Better Late Than Never
by moviemom44
Summary: Gage and Sydney move beyond friendship, but something happens that very night to rob Gage of his memory of the unique nature of their relationship. Can Sydney help him remember or will she have to woo him all over again? COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I do not own any of the characters originally created by the writers and producers of "Walker, Texas Ranger." I do own all the original characters and the story line.

I would like to thank everyone who has hung in there with me while I wrote this. I know it took forever to finish it, but I sincerely hope you will find it worth the wait. As always, I send my expert beta reader, Pace Fan, mountains of praise and oceans of gratitude. And, no, I do not think your vast knowledge of all things "Walker, Texas Ranger" makes you pathetic; to me, it makes you invaluable. Please review.

Better Late Than Never

by

Moviemom44

Gage fiddled with the collar of his tuxedo shirt for the fiftieth time since taking his position on the first landing of the main staircase of the governor's mansion. Immediately, his partner's voice crackled in his earpiece. She wasn't happy.

"Gage! Quit fidgeting. You're attracting too much attention," Sydney scolded.

"I can't help it, Syd. This thing is strangling me," Gage whispered, trying hard not to whine like a six-year-old forced to dress up for church.

"This isn't the first time you've worn a tux. What gives?"

"I don't know. It feels like the shirt is too small, or Walker tied the tie too tight," he said, wondering to himself if Walker was standing in the shadows somewhere getting a big chuckle out of watching him squirm.

When Gage first learned that he was to be part of the team of Rangers providing security for the governor's daughter's Sweet 16 birthday party, he thought it might be fun. What could be bad about watching over dozens of cute high school girls all dressed in their finest party clothes? He hadn't counted on having to wear the monkey suit, but apparently, if the governor could insist on having the additional security at her party, the birthday girl could insist that they at least dress appropriately.

He went to reach for his collar again, but the voice in his ear stopped him.

"Uh-uh-uh," Sydney said. He could almost see her wagging her finger at him.

"Alright, alright. Hey, where are you, anyway? If you can see me, then you obviously aren't in the dining room anymore," Gage said.

Sydney was assigned to protect the governor's daughter, so she was required to be with her at all times and that meant joining the other guests for dinner. Gage wondered what she had worn to try to look inconspicuous among this crowd.

"No, dinner's over," she said.

"Well, where are you?"

"Turn around," came the answer. It wasn't a command. It was more of an invitation.

Intrigued by the unusual tone in Sydney's voice, Gage turned to look toward the top of the stairs, searching the faces of the young ladies making their way down the steps on their way to the ballroom. He didn't recognize any of them as his partner. Then, from the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a woman staring intently at him from the top of the steps. He looked directly at her, returning her gaze, and it still took a full minute for Gage to realize it was Sydney, a woman he'd spent nearly every waking moment with for the past two years. In all that time, he'd never seen her look anything like this.

A low whistle escaped his lips as he took in the vision before him. She wore an off the shoulder dress made of a deep copper colored velvet that clung to her body like a second skin. Copper sequins sparkled in a diagonal line starting at the right shoulder of her dress and dipping just below the bust on the left. From there the pattern moved south and reversed direction to accent the hip area from left to right. The flecks of light did their job and then some. Gage's eyes traced the entire dazzling trail and by the time he got to her copper-colored high-heeled sandals, he could hardly breathe. So much for inconspicuous.

As she started down the steps toward him, he noticed that her raven hair was swept to one side, falling in a cascade of soft, dark waves that caressed her left shoulder. Gage loved Sydney's long, silky hair. Just yesterday, one whiff of her shampoo as she walked past his desk had inspired a fantasy in which he was in her arms, shirtless, her hair falling across his bare skin. Come to think of it, he still hadn't finished the report his daydream interrupted.

When she reached the bottom of the steps, Sydney could see that her appearance was having the desired effect on her partner. She had chosen the dress carefully. It had to be daring enough to catch a certain blue-eyed Ranger's attention, but tasteful enough to pass muster at the governor's mansion. Off the shoulder and the snug fit met the first requirement and the knee-length hemline met the other. The color and the fabric were purely for her own indulgence.

"Wow!" he said, the word escaping with the breath he'd been holding in since he first saw her. "Syd, you look amazing."

"Thank-you. You look very handsome yourself," she said, smiling.

Gage stood staring at her, waiting for the punch line that usually followed whenever she complimented him. None came.

"Oh, uh, thanks. Aren't you supposed to be with the guest of honor?" he asked, hoping she hadn't noticed his stammer and trying to get his mind back on the task at hand.

"She's in the ballroom with her family, so Walker and Trivette are keeping an eye on her until I can get in there. I had to make a pit stop after dinner."

"So, do you think I could steal you away for a minute?" he asked, smiling back at her with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"I guess so… what have you got in mind?" she asked. Something in the way he was looking at her made her heart skip a beat.

"Come with me," he said, lightly laying a hand on her back and directing her down the final flight of steps to the foyer. From his perch on the landing, Gage had noticed a photographer taking pictures of the party guests as they arrived and it had occurred to him that he and Sydney had missed out on having their picture taken at his reunion. Now was his chance to rectify that.

As they rounded the corner of the stairs, Sydney saw the photographer snapping a shot of a pretty blonde girl and her dark-haired date.

"Is this where you're headed?" Sydney asked, pointing at the photographer and taking a step backward.

"Yeah, I was hoping we could get a picture together while we're all dressed up," he said, bracing himself for her flat refusal. He knew she hated having her picture taken, although he never understood why someone as beautiful as her would be camera shy.

"Sure, but can I take a look at my hair first?" she said, moving toward a full-length mirror hanging near the entrance to the ballroom. Gage stood stunned for a second or two before following her to the mirror. No snappy comeback on the compliment and now agreeing to being photographed without a hint of protest? Who was this woman and what had she done with his partner?

Sydney smiled secretly to herself as she walked ahead of Gage. She'd managed to both impress and surprise him – twice – this evening. Ever since they'd returned from the movie set in Mexico, she had noticed that he was flirting with her more than usual and she'd decided that tonight would be the perfect occasion to find out whether it all meant what she hoped it did, or not.

At first, she wasn't sure how to conduct her investigation. Then it hit her.

Act like a girl, not a Ranger. If he responded to her as a woman, then she had been reading the signs correctly. If he didn't, or couldn't or wouldn't…well, her heart would shatter, but at least she'd have her answer.

Looking at their reflection in the mirror, Gage couldn't help but smile. Nobody could say they didn't make a handsome couple. Except for those earpieces, maybe. He removed his and put it in his pocket. Sydney did the same, dropping it into her tiny shiny copper colored purse.

He watched Sydney fluff her curls and nudge her bangs a fraction of an inch to the left and suddenly he had an overwhelming urge to wrap his arms around her and kiss her. His best hope for success, he thought, would come when they posed for the picture.

"Ready?" he asked when she stopped primping. She nodded, took his hand and said, "Let's go for it." This time Gage's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't have said it better himself.

They crossed the room hand in hand to where the photographer was finishing up with another couple. Gage noticed a sign next to the backdrop that read, "Devon Rhyme, Portrait & Wedding Photography".

"Excuse me, Mr. Rhyme?" Gage said, still holding Sydney's hand.

"Yes?" Rhyme said as he turned around. "What can I do for you?"

"We'd like to have our picture taken," Gage answered.

"And well you should, my good man, with a lady as lovely as this one," Rhyme said, beaming at Sydney.

"My thoughts exactly," Gage said softly as he looked into Sydney's eyes and gave her hand a squeeze.

Sydney's stomach did a flip and for a second she forgot how to breathe. Maybe it was the prom-like atmosphere, but she suddenly felt positively giddy, like a teenager who just found out that the cute quarterback she'd had a crush on felt the same way about her, too.

"Shall we?" Rhyme said, pointing toward the backdrop.

"Oh, uh, yes, of course," Sydney and Gage both mumbled in response. "Should we stand here?" Sydney asked, letting go of Gage's hand as she stepped in front of the painted backdrop and turned to face Rhyme. She laid her purse on a small table next to Rhyme's sign.

"Yes, that's fine. What is your name, dear?"

"I'm Sydney Cooke and this is…"

"Gage," he said, offering his hand to the photographer who gave it a brief but firm shake.

"Well, Mr. Cooke, if you would just stand behind your lady fair…" he directed, but Sydney cut him off.

"Actually, it's not…We're not..," she stammered as Gage moved into position behind her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just assumed," Rhyme apologized. "I hope I didn't offend?"

"Not at all," Gage said, coming to Sydney's rescue. "I should have introduced myself properly. I'm Francis Gage and my lady fair and I are partners with the Texas Rangers." Unable to resist, he added with a grin, "but we get mistaken for an old married couple all the time."

Sydney's elbow shot into Gage's midsection, knocking the wind out of him.

_There's the Syd I know and love, _Gage thought as he straightened up and rubbed his ribs.

"Yes, I can see how that might happen," Rhyme said, smiling and playing along.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Whose side are you on anyway?" Sydney griped, albeit jokingly.

"The side of true love, my dear, and protest all you like, I have been in this business too long not to know it when I see it," he said, raising the camera to his eye. "Ready?"

"Whoa! Hold on a minute," Gage barked.

"What now?" Sydney asked, turning to look up at him.

"Well, I mean, if we only get one shot at this…I just want it to be right. How about if you stand like this," he said, turning Sydney so she leaned into his left side with her right arm behind him and her left arm wrapped around his waist in front. "And I do this…" he said, draping his left arm across her shoulders and pulling her close.

"This feels awkward," Sydney said, stepping away from his grasp.

"May I make a suggestion?" Rhyme offered. "Perhaps if you stand facing one another…" his voice trailed off as he waited for them to follow his instruction. When they didn't, he gave them a stern look and made a small circling motion with his finger.

Gage was beginning to think he had made a terrible mistake. This was turning into a much bigger and more public production than he had intended. All he had wanted was to have a picture of Sydney in his arms in that gorgeous dress. He wanted something to capture the moment forever, because God knew when he'd ever get another chance at either one – seeing her in the dress or holding her in his arms. In the end, he had to admit, it wasn't really about the dress.

Sydney wondered why he was so hesitant to put both his arms around her, which he could have easily done either from his position behind her or by facing her as the photographer suggested. Had she imagined the way he looked at her tonight? Had she misread the things he was saying?

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" Sydney asked, almost shyly. Her questioning tone and tentative touch on his arm nearly broke his heart. He may have had a doubt or two, but she obviously didn't and he wouldn't disappoint her, not for anything.

"Yes. Yes, Syd, I really do," Gage answered firmly.

"Excellent!" Rhyme chimed in. "Now, please face Sydney, put your arms around each other and…do…what comes naturally," he directed, as he aimed the camera at them.

"You heard the man," Sydney said, sliding her arms around his waist and leaning toward him as he put his arms around her. Gage smiled down at her as she moved in even closer, tilting her head just a bit. Their eyes closed a split second before the flash went off and their lips met a split second after.

Gage was experiencing sensory overload – Sydney's soft, warm lips on his, the scent of her perfume surrounding him, the velvety feel of her dress as he moved his hands over her strong muscular back. It was dizzying and the only thing he could think of to do to keep from falling was to hold onto his lady fair for dear life.

Sydney had never been so happy. He did love her! He had to. Nothing else could explain the way he was kissing her, so tenderly, so sweetly and yet she could also feel the passion, so long hidden, yearning to come to the surface.

He moved his hand up her back and started to entangle it in her hair when he encountered the jeweled comb that held her hair to one side. She flinched as her hair was tugged.

"Sorry," he whispered, his lips still barely touching hers, his hand moving instead to caress her chin.

"It's OK," she whispered back, breaking the kiss and looking up at him. She reached up and removed the comb, shaking her head to let her raven locks fall around her bare shoulders. Gage thought he might faint.

The couple were so lost in one another's gaze that neither one noticed the small crowd that had gathered behind Rhyme, who for his part was smiling a self-satisfied smile that clearly stated, "I told you so."

A tall, lanky, dark-skinned man in the crowd cleared his throat loudly and said, "OK, Walker, pay up."

The sound of their colleague's voice and the mention of their boss's name jolted the pair out of their trance.

As Gage and Sydney turned around to face him, Trivette led the little audience in a round of enthusiastic applause. Red-faced, but still smiling, they looped their arms together and took a bow.

Gage couldn't help noticing that Walker was neither smiling nor clapping.


	2. Our Song

Better Late Than Never (REDUX)

Chapter 2: Our Song

'Hey, boss," Gage said, stepping away from the photographer's area and addressing his superior directly. Sydney followed a pace behind him as the audience dispersed.

"What's he talking about, Walker?" Gage asked, nodding toward Trivette.

"Oh, a little side bet he and I made when we saw what Sydney was wearing tonight," Walker confessed, quickly adding, "None of which excuses the two of you for your blatantly unprofessional behavior."

"I'm sorry about that, boss. It won't happen again," Gage said. Sydney nodded in agreement, unable to speak for the lump in her throat. Already, her shameless pursuit of him had gotten them into trouble and already he seemed to be regretting the whole thing. Oh, what had she done?

"From what I saw just now, I doubt that very much, Ranger Gage. I think it will continue to happen all the time, but if you can manage to keep it from affecting your work, then you'll get no complaints from me," Walker said, finally cracking a smile.

"You mean it? You approve?" Sydney managed to choke out through her tears, which had gone from sad to happy in an instant.

"Yes I do, despite the fact that I lost the bet because I said you two wouldn't get carried away during an assignment. Because you are such dedicated professionals," he said, emphasizing the last two words by poking Gage in the chest, causing Gage's cheeks to redden for the second time.

"Speaking of the assignment," a young female voice said, "I'd like to get back to dancing with my date, so could at least one of you Rangers please join me in the ballroom?" The birthday girl had come out into the foyer to see what was drawing so much attention away from her and had also witnessed the romantic exchange between the two partners. "You two make a cute couple. Wanna dance?"

Like a pair of school children seeking the teacher's approval, Gage and Sydney turned in unison to Walker, who said, "One song and then it's back to work, got it?"

"Absolutely," Gage said, grabbing Sydney's hand and leading her toward the dance floor, but she skidded to a stop when she heard someone call her name.

"Wait! Ms. Cooke?" It was Rhyme, hurrying toward Sydney with a shiny object in one hand and a slip of bright purple paper in the other. "You forgot your purse and your receipt for your picture. Just bring this with you to my studio next week and you can pick up the prints."

Taking the items from his hands, Sydney placed the paper inside the purse and then reached up and kissed Rhyme on the cheek. "Thank you, Mr. Rhyme, thank you so much," she said, her eyes conveying her gratitude for more than just his expert photography.

"You're very welcome, Ms. Cooke, and if the need should arise, remember I do weddings, too," he said.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again," she said, waving sweetly to him as Gage resumed pulling her into the ballroom.

When they reached the dance floor, almost as if on cue, the opening notes of Toby Keith's song, "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This," began to play.

Gage gathered Sydney into his arms and began moving in a slow circle to the music. For someone his size, Sydney noticed, her partner was amazingly graceful. They had only danced together once before, briefly, at his class reunion, but she remembered that he actually knew how to lead, so she surrendered all control to him and let herself be swept along to the chorus of her favorite song.

_You shouldn't kiss me like this, unless you mean it like that,_

'_Cause I'll just close my eyes and I won't know where I'm at._

_We'll get lost on this dance floor, spinning around_

_And around and around and around._

_They're all watching us now._

_They think we're falling in love._

_They'd never believe we're just friends._

_When you kiss me like this, I think you mean it like that._

_If you do, baby, kiss me again._

As they danced, Gage realized they were living out the words to the song, right down to the part about "just friends" and "falling in love."

"You think maybe this could be our song?" he asked, flashing her a brilliant smile.

"Only if you sing it to me," she said, grinning back at him, doubting he would take her up on the dare. She'd heard him sing before, to the car radio or the occasional CD at one of their apartments, and he had a nice voice, but he rarely did it if he knew she was listening.

"You shouldn't kiss me like this, unless you mean it like that," he sang, continuing note perfect through the entire chorus and the reprise in a rich tenor voice.

"If you do, baby, kiss me again. Kiss me again," he finished on the high note, looking expectantly at his new love. She immediately took the hint and kissed him once again.

"I love you, Sydney," he said, breathlessly, against her ear. "I will always love you."

"Oh, Gage, I love you, too," she whispered back. "Always."

"Do you mean that?" he asked, an ornery glint in his eye.

"Yes, I do."

"Good," he said. Without warning, he dipped her over backwards and stole a long, luxurious kiss. When he pulled her back up again, she appeared to be dazed. "Surprise," he said softly and moved in for another kiss that was every bit as delicious as the last one.

Sydney had the vaguest feeling that something was amiss as she stood there kissing the man of her dreams. Then she realized that her boss was standing right next to them, having snuck up on them while they were lost in each other's arms on the dance floor.

Needing to get Gage's attention quickly, she did the first thing she thought of; she stepped on his foot.

"Ow!" he yelped, breaking the kiss and moving quickly to avoid being stepped on again. "Wha'd you do that for?"

"Sorry, but…" she said, lowering her eyes and jerking her thumb toward Walker.

"Oh, yeah, back to work, huh?" Gage said, not a little dejectedly.

"Hey, we had a deal, remember? Starting now, you do your kissing on your own time, OK?" Walker said, unable to keep from grinning at the moony way the two younger Rangers were staring at each other as they parted and went back to their original posts.

Just before he left the ballroom, Gage turned around one more time and made a sign with his right hand. Sydney recognized it immediately from their time at the Dallas School for the Deaf, where they had learned American Sign Language as a way of coping with Gage's hearing loss, a loss that might have been permanent had it not been for a new surgical procedure and innumerable prayers from Sydney and their friends. She returned the gesture, holding her hand next to her heart until Gage finally turned and headed for the stairs. It was only then that she realized that while both of them had learned the sign for "I love you," they had never shared it with one another until now.

End Chapter 2.


	3. Chapter 3

Better Late Than Never REDUX - Chapter 3

A few minutes after returning to his post on the landing, Gage spotted Trivette coming up the stairs, snapping a crisp twenty-dollar bill.

Gage quickly snatched the money out of Trivette's hand as he walked past.

"Hey!" Trivette protested. He reached out to grab it back, but Gage raised it over his head, which put it about an inch out of the older Ranger's reach.

"This should just cover what you owe me for the Cowboy game last weekend," Gage said, sliding the bill into his pants pocket.

"Aw, c'mon, man, you couldn't even let me enjoy winning a bet with Walker, could you? Do you know how many times that's happened in all the years I've known him? Exactly twice," Trivette wailed, holding up two fingers right in front of Gage's nose.

"Serves you right for betting against me and Syd," Gage teased him.

"Actually, I was rooting for you. I've seen the way you look at her when you think no one's watching and I've also seen the way her whole face lights up when you come into the room. It's a wonder you two have been able to fight it this long," Trivette said, "Besides, one look at that dress, and I knew you didn't stand a chance."

Gage flashed back to the first second he saw Sydney in that dress and realized Trivette was right. He knew in that instant that he'd sooner walk through all the fires of hell than go on pretending he was 'just friends' with such a ravishing beauty. After all, he wasn't stupid.

Just then, a gangly, red-haired, teenage boy lurched toward the two Rangers, calling out in a slurred voice, "What'd you do with that hot chick, man? She was sweet!"

Resisting the urge to throttle the kid, Gage took him by the arm, led him to a chair on the opposite side of the landing and sat him down in it – hard.

"How 'bout if you sit down before you fall down, chief?" Gage advised. The boy tried to stand up, but Gage nudged him and he fell right back into the chair.

"I think this fella needs some fresh air, don't you Ranger Gage?" Trivette said, taking the boy by the elbow and leading him through a set of French doors that opened onto a terrace adjacent to the landing.

As they walked away, Gage heard Trivette say, "Son, you won't remember this tomorrow, but I just saved your life." Gage couldn't keep from chuckling.

"Did you just see a skinny red-haired kid come this way?" asked a stocky young man with curly, dark hair and severely bloodshot eyes. The unmistakable odor of Southern Comfort wafted toward Gage as he spoke.

"First, hand it over," Gage said, holding out his hand expectantly. The boy started to protest, but Gage gave him his best bad-cop scowl and without further ado the boy produced a silver flask from his inside jacket pocket. Gage tucked it into his own jacket and said, "He's out on the terrace getting some fresh air. I think you should join him."

"Yes, sir," the boy said, awash with relief that only his flask had been taken into custody.

Over the next hour or so, Gage confiscated three more containers filled with adult beverages of one kind or another, one of which was being shared by a young couple hiding in the shadows on the edge of the terrace. From what he'd seen just before they were caught, Gage figured he might have also saved them from a shotgun wedding.

Now and then, he caught a glimpse of Sydney as she mingled among the guests with the birthday girl and her family. Once she'd looked up and their eyes met. The brilliant smile she gave him sent warm shivers all the way down to his toes.

Just before 9 p.m., Gage heard Walker's voice in his ear. "It's about time to close up shop. Sydney and I will make sure everything is secure downstairs. Gage, you and Trivette handle the second floor."

"You got it, boss." Gage replied and began his sweep of the upstairs rooms. As he passed the womens lounge, he thought he heard whispering voices, one of which was not female.

Knocking loudly first, he pushed the door open, calling out, "The party's over and I mean right now!" To his surprise, the same couple he'd caught out on the terrace emerged from the handicapped stall. The girl, a tall, leggy blond, was tying up the top of her turquoise halter dress while her dark-haired, athletic boyfriend was tucking his shirt into his pants, having forgotten to zip his fly.

"You two, again? Zip it up, Romeo, and wait for me in here. I want a word with Juliet."

Leading the girl into the hallway, Gage asked, "What's your name?"

"Juliet Davis," she said without a hint of sarcasm.

"Really? His isn't really Romeo, is it?" Gage asked incredulously.

"No, it's Mark. Mark Fitzgerald."

"Juliet, how old are you?"

"Seventeen," she said, avoiding his eyes.

"Yeah, and I'm the king of England."

"Fifteen," Juliet said, her voice cracking. "Are you going to arrest me?"

"No, but I could arrest him for statutory rape. Do you know what that is?"

"Yes. Please, don't do that. We weren't… we didn't actually…"

"I understand. Do you have any older brothers, Juliet?"

"Two, Jack and Sam, They're twins," she said.

"Well, Juliet, what do you think Jack and Sam would do if they found out what went on here tonight?"

"Oh, no! Oh, sir, you can't tell them. They'd kill him!" she cried, grabbing his sleeve.

"Does Mark know you're only fifteen?"

"Yes."

"How old is he?"

"Eighteen. His birthday was last week."

"I promise I won't arrest him, or tell your brothers – this time. But if you two don't quit playing with fire, one or both of you is going to get burned. You won't get to go to fancy parties when you have to take care of a baby, and he can't win football games from a jail cell. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"My name is Gage and I work for Company B of the Texas Rangers. If you ever need anything, you just call there and ask for me, OK?"

"OK," Juliet sniffed. "Ranger Gage, why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because, believe it or not, I have a sister named Julie, and I know what I used to do to guys like Mark. Now, I want you to go downstairs and look for my partner, Ranger Cooke, and tell her you need a ride home. She's wearing…"

"I know who she is. I saw you two dancing together earlier."

Gage flushed a little. "Well, uh, good, then you know who to look for. I'll let her know you're coming."

Juliet turned to head downstairs, but stopped and turned back. "Ranger Gage?"

"Yes, Juliet?"

"Just so you know, Mark looks at me the same way you were looking at your partner."

"I don't doubt it for a minute," Gage said, realizing the talk he was about to have with Mark would probably be a whole lot of wasted breath, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to put the fear of God into the kid.

"Sydney?" Gage said, activating the mic on his earpiece.

"Yeah, partner?"

'I'm sending a girl named Juliet Davis down to you. Tall, blond, blue-green dress. Her boyfriend will be unavoidably detained and she will need a ride home."

"OK, I see her on the stairs. I'll take care of it. Give him hell, Gage."

"Count on it," he said, switching off the mic.

Opening the restroom door, Gage called, "OK, Mark, get out here."

"I didn't…I mean, we didn't do what you think…" Mark stammered, running his fingers through his hair and closely inspecting the carpet.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you," Gage growled.

Mark looked him straight in the eye. "It's not what you think. I really love Juliet."

"Let me tell you why I doubt that, Mark. If you truly loved her, you would respect her enough to keep your pants zipped in her presence. You would hold her in too high a regard to ever bring her into the handicapped stall of the womens bathroom for a grope session. You would treasure her innocence like the precious jewel that it is and never do anything to tarnish it. If you love her, you will honor her family by asking her father and her older brothers for permission to date her and then abide by their decision," Gage said, moving slowly forward as he spoke, forcing Mark's back up against the wall. "Are we clear, Mark?"

The look in Gage's eyes told the boy there was only one acceptable answer.

"Yes, sir," he said, swallowing hard.

"I want your word, man to man, that nothing like this will ever happen again, because if it does, Jack and Sam will be the least of your worries. They may beat you senseless, but I have a badge and I'm not afraid to use it. Your butt will land in jail so hard you'll bounce, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir. You have my word," he said, holding out his hand, which Gage gripped in a very firm handshake.

"Now go downstairs and wait for me. Did you drive here?"

"Yes, sir. Juliet and I came together."

"She'll be getting another ride and I'll be driving you home as soon as I'm finished here."

"I can get a ride with…"

"I said, I'll be driving you home." There was that look again.

"Yes, sir. Are you going to tell my parents about this?"

"That depends on how you behave from now on. Now get going."

As Mark headed downstairs, Gage finished checking the rest of the second floor and, finding everything in order, told Walker, "Upstairs is all clear, boss."  
"Thanks, Gage. I heard you caught a pair of lovebirds about to nest," Walker said, adding, "Seems like you're destined to find romance of all kinds tonight, huh?" Gage could hear the smile in the senior Ranger's voice.

"Yeah, something like that," he answered rather sheepishly.

End Chapter 3.

Author's Note: OK, so it took until Chapter 4 to bring on the hurt. Keep reading...


	4. Chapter 4

Better Late Than Never REDUX -- Chapter 4

It turned out that Mark and Juliet both lived in a gated community not far from Sydney's house, so she and Gage agreed to meet at her place after dropping off their respective charges.

After depositing Mark in his car, Gage walked Sydney and Juliet to where Sydney had parked.

"How is Mark going to get his car home?" Juliet asked.

"That's Mark's problem, not yours," Gage said. "He'll have to find someone to bring him back here to get it and he'll have to decide whether or not to tell the truth about why he needs the ride. I hope he makes the right choice."

"So do I," Juliet replied as she climbed into the passenger seat of Sydney's sedan and closed the door.

Alone in the parking lot, Gage and Sydney hugged each other close.

"I've missed you," he whispered against her ear, his warm breath sending a tingle down her spine.

"We've been in the same building all evening," she said, looking up at him.

"I know. I meant, I missed holding you ever since the dance ended."

"Oh. Me too," she said, reaching up to kiss him tenderly on the lips.

After savoring the taste of her for several seconds, Gage asked. "Hey, Syd, are you hungry?"

"You know, Gage, if you and your insatiable appetite weren't so lovable, I might be insulted that you're thinking about food right now," she said, trailing her finger down his nose and across his lips to the point of his chin.

"Well, there's hunger and then there's _hunger_," he said, his eyes darkening with passion as he emphasized his point by weaving his fingers through her hair and pulling her in for a bone-melting kiss.

The power of their mutual desire shocked them both. Gage's blood was on fire as he ran his hands up and down the velvety back of Sydney's dress, all the while imagining the moment when he would watch all that velvet slide away and reveal her silky skin. Sydney felt as though she couldn't hold him tight enough, couldn't be close enough to him; she ached to be part of him. Only when it simultaneously dawned on them that they still had Mark and Juliet for an audience were they able to untangle themselves from one another.

When his lips released hers, they stood staring into each other's eyes, dumbstruck.

"Oh, my," was all Sydney could manage.

"Syd, that was amazing. You are amazing," Gage said, holding her close again. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too. More than I ever thought I could love anybody," Sydney answered, surprised at how easily the words came to her, especially since she had tried for so long to deny her feelings. She had realized tonight that locking her heart away didn't keep it safe, only imprisoned, and finally being able to say out loud that she loved him felt like flying free and coming home all at the same time.

They gave each other one last squeeze before Sydney stepped away and walked to the driver's side of her car.

"So how does Chinese sound? I could stop at Golden Moon on the way to your place." Gage said, focusing on his stomach again.

"Actually, it's been so long since dinner that some moo shoo pork sounds fabulous. And don't forget the egg rolls," she said as she settled herself in the driver's seat.

"When have I ever forgotten the egg rolls? And even if I did, Mr. Chen knows our orders by heart and he never forgets," Gage called over his shoulder on the way back to his car. When he heard Sydney's car start, he turned around and flashed the sign for "I love you," smiling when she returned the gesture.

-----

"Ranger Cooke?" Juliet piped up on the drive to her house.

"Yes, Juliet?"

"What was that symbol you and Ranger Gage made with your hands when he went to his car?"

"It's American Sign Language for 'I love you'," Sydney answered.

"You mean sign language like deaf people use?"

"Exactly. Gage lost his hearing for a while a few months ago and he had to learn to communicate as a deaf person before his doctor would agree to try an experimental surgery to restore his hearing. We both learned sign language at the Dallas School for the Deaf."

"How long have you two been together?"

"That depends on what you mean by 'together'," Sydney said, smiling.

Juliet looked at her quizzically.

"We've been partners with the Rangers for about two years, but we've been a couple, officially, for about three hours now."

"So just tonight? At the party? Wow! That is so romantic," Juliet gushed.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Sydney agreed. _Romantic, _she thought. _Now there's a word I never thought would apply to any part of my life_.

"Mark and I have known each other for a long time. His dad coached my brothers in football. But we just fell in love last year."

"Juliet, I know this is none of my business, but how can you be sure Mark is really in love with _you_ and not just interested in your…in having…," Sydney stammered, not wanting to embarrass the girl.

"Sex?"

"Yeah, that," Sydney said, exhaling loudly.

"I could ask you the same question, Ranger Cooke. I mean, look at you. Anyone with eyes can see how sexy you are. How do you know Ranger Gage isn't just interested in 'you know what'? Why do grown-ups always assume that teenagers can't possibly know what love is?"

"Usually it's because we've been teenagers and we've learned, often through painful experiences, that what we thought was true love often turned out to be less about love and more about raging hormones. Your parents, or your brothers, and even Ranger Gage and I, aren't being condescending. We're just trying to spare you the painful parts."

"Did that speech work when your parents gave it to you?"

"Probably not as well as they would have wished, but I've come to realize they were right. Look, Juliet, you don't have to listen to a word anyone says, but if you are as smart as I think you are, you won't be completely reckless with your future – or with Mark's, for that matter."

"I hear you loud and clear, Ranger Cooke. Oh, this is my block. My house is the white one on the left with the basketball net in the driveway."

Sydney parked the car in front of the house and Juliet got out. "Thanks for the ride, Ranger Cooke. Have a wonderful life with that handsome partner of yours."

"Thanks, Juliet. I'm sure I will," Sydney replied. She waited until Juliet opened her front door, waved once more and closed the front door behind her before heading for home. As she pulled away from the curb, her cell phone rang. She checked the caller ID and smiled.

"Hey, Gage, what's up?"

"I just dropped Mark off at his house. Did you know he is THE Mark Fitzgerald?"

"You mean the star quarterback from Liberty High School who already has a full ride to Texas A&M? That Mark Fitzgerald?"

A second or two of stunned silence on Gage's end was followed by, "Juliet told you."

"No, she didn't. You aren't the only one who reads the sports page, you know."

"I wonder if you will ever cease to amaze me," Gage said, admiration evident in his voice.

"Don't bet on it," she said, adding, "Speaking of betting, how much money did Trivette win on us anyway?"

"Twenty bucks."

"You did get it from him, didn't you?" she asked, knowing full well Gage would have found a way to spoil their friend's fun and exact a little revenge.

"What do you think I'm using to pay for the Chinese food?"

With that, they both laughed out loud.

"See you soon, Gage."

"Uh, Syd, one more thing. Could you leave the dress on until I get there?" he said, making no attempt to hide his excitement at being alone with her and that dress.

"Sure, babe, but can I ditch these murderous shoes?"

"Yes, and I'll even throw in a foot rub after dinner."

"Oh, Lord, you do love me!"

"More every minute. See you soon, honey," he said sweetly and snapped the phone shut.

-----

As soon as Gage drove up to the front of the Golden Moon restaurant, his cop instincts kicked into high gear. The only other car in the parking lot was a dark blue Camaro, which was parked across three parking spaces instead of in one. As Gage exited his car, he noticed that the Camaro's engine was running with no one inside.

Moving cautiously, his eyes and ears alert for any sound or movement out of the ordinary, Gage approached the windowless front door of the restaurant, turned the knob and slowly pulled the door open as he stepped behind it. Using the door as a shield, he pulled his gun from the holster on the back of his belt and slid the safety to 'off.'

In one fluid motion, he pointed his gun in front of him, stepped into the lobby area and pulled the door shut behind him. His gun and his gaze moved in sync around the room from left to right, finally settling on the counter where the cash register sat, the cash drawer open and empty. From behind the counter, a thin ribbon of blood flowed toward him.

Still leading with his weapon, he approached the front of the counter and peeked over the top to find the restaurant's owner, Mr. Chen, lying semi-conscious and bleeding from a chest wound. Ducking around the counter, Gage checked for a pulse.

"Mr. Chen?" Gage whispered, aware that the thieves were probably still in the restaurant somewhere.

"Ranger Gage?" The elderly man coughed softly, cringing from the pain in his chest.

"Lay still, Mr. Chen," Gage said, holstering his gun and quickly searching for something to use to staunch the blood flow. A stack of folded napkins sat on a table nearby. Gage dove out into the open, grabbed a handful of napkins and dove back behind the counter all in a matter of two seconds. He wadded up the napkins, placed them on Mr. Chen's wound and pressed down hard.

"Can you hold this here, sir?" he asked.

Mr. Chen nodded. As he reached up to grab the makeshift bandage, his bloody fingers closed on Gage's arm.

"Mai Lee?" he said weakly.

"Your niece? I didn't see her. Was she with you when they came in?"

"They grabbed her…went to kitchen…" was all the wounded man could say before he passed out.

Just then, Gage heard a woman scream and the sound of a fist hitting flesh.

Gage ran toward the kitchen doors, gun drawn. He looked through the round window in the door hoping to be able to size up the competition. Mai Lee lay motionless on the floor, her blouse torn and her skirt askew. Two men wearing black ski masks stood near her, one holding a 9mm pistol in his gloved right hand. The other one was undoing his belt.

"C'mon Johnny. She's out cold. Let's just get out of here. We got money to buy you a live girl now," said the smaller man. Gage noticed his eyes were blue and full of fear. He held the gun like he wished he didn't have to.

Johnny's voice was like cold steel, "Out cold works for me. It's Tex that likes a fight." Johnny was taller and skinnier than his frightened accomplice, but he didn't seem the least bit scared.

"Where is Tex anyway?" the little one asked, looking toward the kitchen doors.

Gage ducked back away from the door, grabbed his phone and dialed 911.

"What is your emergency?" the operator asked.

"This is Ranger Francis Gage. There's an armed robbery in progress at the Golden Moon restaurant on Greenville Avenue near Mockingbird, three assailants, one gunshot victim with a chest wound and a possible sexual assault victim. I need an ambulance and DPD backup pronto."

"They're on their way, Ranger Gage," the operator answered as he hung up.

Just as he stood up to look back into the kitchen window, a tingling sensation crawled up his neck – the signal that someone was behind him. Before he could turn around, something hard and heavy collided with the back of his skull, sending a white-hot burst of pain through his head. He staggered forward and slumped against the wall beside the kitchen door, turning just enough to see Tex, a masked man the size of an all-pro linebacker, holding a large cast-iron wok. The last thing Gage heard before the world went black was the sound of approaching sirens.

End Chapter 4.

Author's Note: Whoops, I just realized I didn't give this chapter or Chapter 3 a title, like I did for Chapter 2. Chapter titles? We don't need no stinking chapter titles. Right?


	5. Chapter 5

Better Late Than Never: Chapter 5

Walker had just gotten home when his cell phone began beeping rapidly. He grabbed it off his belt and flipped it open to reveal a text message from the 911 call center. He read it aloud.

"Ranger Gage. Armed Robbery. Golden Moon Restaurant. 10:13 p.m." He looked at his watch. The call had come in ten minutes before and been routed to Walker through a new system known as "TLIN" or "T-Line", an acronym for Team Leader Incident Notification. Whenever a Ranger called in to 911, the information was automatically sent to the Ranger's team leader via T-Line.

"Alex, I'm sorry. I have to leave again," he called up the stairs to his wife, who had gone up to quiet their infant daughter's fussy cries. "Gage called in an armed robbery at a restaurant near Sydney's place. I'm going to check it out. I'll be back as soon as I can. Kiss the baby for me," he called just before running down the front porch steps to his truck.

Alex stood at the top of the stairs, staring at the space just inside the front door that her husband had so briefly occupied and so hastily vacated. While she hoped Gage was OK, she couldn't help feeling more than a little frustrated. Walker had called on his way home and told her that Sydney and Gage's relationship had changed significantly this evening, but refused to provide details over the phone. Now what was she supposed to do, use her imagination?

----

Sydney was starting to get worried. It was taking Gage an unusually long time to collect their standard order from Golden Moon: moo shoo pork and one egg roll for her and spicy beef with broccoli and three egg rolls for him. They'd ordered the same meal so many times that whenever they called to order dinner, Mr. Chen or his niece would just say, "The usual?" and have it bagged and ready to go in less than the ten-minute drive time from Sydney's place to the restaurant.

Thirty minutes had passed since Gage called. Sydney had already arrived at her house, shucked the shoes that she was sorry she let the saleswoman talk her into, and set the table for two, complete with white taper candles in the carved wooden candlesticks Gage gave her last Christmas. She decided to freshen her lipstick, brush out her hair and give her perfume one last spritz. Where was he?

She was looking through her CD collection, searching for some soft dinner music, when she caught the sound of sirens in the distance. Her intuition was tickling at her conscious mind, nudging her past worry, pushing her toward panic when her cell phone rang.

"It's about time!" she said without looking at the caller ID.

"Sydney, it's Walker."

She recognized the tone in his voice and her knees gave out.

"How is he?" she managed to say before the first sob broke from her throat.

----

Twenty minutes later, she was riding in Walker's truck toward St. Matthew's Hospital. They'd have left five minutes sooner, but Walker insisted that she change out of the copper velvet dress and into something comfortable enough for an all-night vigil. She had wanted to argue with him, to insist on fulfilling Gage's wish to see her in the dress again, but she knew Walker wouldn't budge and she couldn't waste time getting to Gage.

So now, she sat in the passenger seat of the truck, dressed in sweat pants and one of Gage's old sweatshirts, staring out into the night, unable to get Juliet's voice out of her mind. _'Have a wonderful life with that handsome partner of yours.'_

"Dear God, I'll take any kind of life with him, just please let him be all right," she prayed aloud.

Walker reached across the seat and squeezed her hand. He had told her as much as he knew about what happened at the Golden Moon. Gage had come upon the robbery in progress after Mr. Chen had been shot and his niece, Mai Lee, had been assaulted by one of the three masked men. After calling 911 to report the incident and request an ambulance and backup, he had been struck from behind by one of the assailants and knocked unconscious. While he was down, the robbers had taken his gun and his cell phone. Walker guessed that the sound of the emergency vehicles approaching had caused the criminals to flee the scene before they could do any more harm.

"Did he ever regain consciousness?" Sydney asked, forcing herself to think like a Ranger instead of like a distraught girlfriend.

"No, not before they got him in the ambulance, but he may be awake by now," he said, trying to sound more hopeful than he felt. "You know how hard his head is."

Sydney smiled in spite of herself. "How are Mr. Chen and Mai Lee doing? Were they able to give descriptions of their attackers?"

"Only that there were three of them and they wore masks. They're both in pretty bad shape, Sydney. Mr. Chen lost a lot of blood and Mai Lee was raped and beaten. They were taken to St. Matthew's as well, so we can check on them after we see about Gage."

As they pulled up to the hospital's emergency room entrance, Sydney didn't wait for the truck to come to a complete stop before jumping out and running through the sliding doors, slamming headlong into Trivette who had arrived a moment earlier with Erika.

"Oh, Jimmy, I'm sorry," Sydney said as she righted herself and kept jogging toward the admissions desk.

"It's OK. Just go," he called, understanding her hurry.

As he watched her run, her hair flying behind her, he felt a lump rising in his throat and bitter tears filling his eyes.

"It's just not fair," he said, gritting his teeth and swallowing hard. "They are so happy, finally, and now this, tonight of all nights. It's not fair."

Erika reached up and hugged him. "I know, honey. I know," she said, soothingly. She remembered her own sleepless nights sitting at Jimmy's bedside while he recovered from nearly being blown to bits by a car bomb planted by Emil Lavocat. She knew what it felt like to wonder if the job her man loved would cost them their future. Her heart went out to Sydney and she said a silent prayer for Gage.

Sydney skidded to a stop in front of the admissions desk just as a familiar face came through the doors that led to the ER's treatment rooms.

"Dr. Clark!" Sydney shouted as she recognized the doctor who had treated Gage when he lost his hearing. "Have you seen Gage? Where is he? Can I see him?"

"Yes, I've seen him and no, you can't see him just yet," Dr. Clark said, taking Sydney by the arm and leading her to a chair in the waiting area across from the desk. "Please, sit down."

"I can't sit down, doctor. I need to see Gage," she insisted.

"He's still unconscious, Ranger Cooke. He took a severe blow to the back of his head, which caused a concussion, but fortunately didn't fracture his skull. His pupils are reacting normally, so it's unlikely that there is any bleeding in his brain, but we won't know the full extent of any damage until he wakes up."

Sydney felt like she was on a roller coaster, one second climbing hopefully toward the sky and the next plunging earthward hanging on for dear life. Dr. Clark's words bumped around in her head, their mixed meanings bringing more confusion than comfort. Concussion. Not fractured. No bleeding in the brain. _Full extent of the damage. Brain damage?_

Finally, the weight of his words was too much and she had to either sit down or fall down. She collapsed into the chair just as Trivette, Erika and Walker joined her.

"I have to go back in with Ranger Gage now," Dr. Clark said, "but I'll be back as soon as I know more."

"Thank you, doctor," Walker said, shaking his hand. Turning to Sydney he said, "Listen to me, Sydney, don't you lose faith now. Gage has been through worse than this and come out of it just fine."

"Walker's right," Trivette added, squeezing Sydney's shoulder. "I've never met a more hard-headed Ranger than Gage. He'll be OK, you'll see."

She knew her friends meant well; their support meant a lot to her, but what she needed most was to see Gage, to touch him, to tell him she loved him.

Just then Alex came in carrying Angela in her car seat. Handing the baby to Walker, Alex carefully knelt down and put her arms around her friend.

Alex's quiet hug was Sydney's undoing. "Oh, Alex, I love him so much. I can't lose him," she sobbed, realizing that she didn't have to be strong in front of her Ranger family.

"You aren't going to lose him, Sydney. That man loves you more than anything and, believe me, he's not going anywhere," Alex said, looking her friend straight in the eye.

"I know you're right. I just wish they'd let me see him," she cried.

"Excuse me, are you all here for Ranger Francis Gage?" asked a petite redhead with green eyes and a pleasant smile. She was holding a clipboard full of forms.

Sydney was out of her chair in a flash at the sound of Gage's name, but Walker spoke first.

"Yes, we are," he replied, stepping in front of Sydney to act as spokesperson for the group. He knew she needed to concentrate on Gage, not some stack of paperwork.

"We'll need some information for Ranger Gage's records. Are any of you his next of kin?" the young woman asked. Walker took the clipboard from her.

"Not exactly. I'm his boss and Ranger Cooke is his partner," he said, nodding toward Sydney. "Between us we can probably answer most of the questions."

The phrase 'next of kin' finally penetrated Sydney's consciousness.

"Julie! Oh, no, somebody needs to call Julie!" she said, reaching for her cell phone.

This time it was Alex who spoke up. "Sydney, maybe we should wait until we get another report from Dr. Clark. It's late, and all we have right now are questions. She's hours away and she'll just worry all the way here if we call her now."

"OK, but if we don't hear anything in the next half hour, I'm calling her anyway, and if we have to get her here in a hurry, we put her on a chopper. Agreed?" she said, looking straight at Walker. She didn't even want to think about why Julie might need to hurry to Dallas from Houston, but she wanted that base covered, just in case.

"Agreed," he said. Now that Sydney seemed to be in full take-charge mode, she was a force to be reckoned with and Walker wasn't about to stand in her way. Besides, there was nothing he wouldn't do for Gage. The younger Ranger had saved Walker's butt more times than he could count and he didn't want to lose him any more than Sydney did.

The rest of the group passed the next twenty minutes in relative silence as Walker and Sydney turned their attention to the hospital forms. They were able to fill out most of the information from memory, but had to ask Trivette to call headquarters to find out Gage's insurance information. When they were finished, Walker returned the forms to the young woman at the desk.

"I do hope everything turns out all right," she said.

"Thanks. Me, too," he replied.

A few minutes later, Dr. Clark returned to the waiting room. Five eager faces turned to look at him as he approached, the look on his face unreadable.

"Ranger Gage is awake and talking," Dr. Clark said, pausing before he delivered the rest of the news. Sydney sat on the edge of her chair, ready to leap up in happy celebration, but Walker spoke before she could react.

"Why do I think I hear a 'but' coming, doctor?" Walker asked.

"I'm sorry to say you're right, Ranger Walker. The news isn't all good."

"What's wrong?" Sydney demanded.

"Physically, he is fine, except for a Texas-sized headache. The problem is his memory. He has no recollection of anything that happened tonight before he woke up here a little while ago. He couldn't recount a single detail of the incident at the restaurant. Dr. Peter Ainsley, our chief of neurology, is with him now trying to determine the extent of his memory loss."

"Isn't it normal for people with head trauma to have some short-term memory loss?" Trivette asked.

"Yes, but that is usually limited to the incident that caused the injury, like a car accident victim not remembering the impact. Ranger Gage doesn't remember anything from the previous twenty-four hours."

Sydney felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. The kick in the head came with Dr. Clark's next statement.

"In fact, when he woke up, he was delighted that he could hear again. He is convinced that he was waking up from the surgery to graft his eardrums."

"What? That was six months ago! You mean he's lost half a year of memories?" Sydney cried. "How is that possible? Will it come back? Is it permanent?"

"I'd rather let Dr. Ainsley give you the details when he's finished examining Ranger Gage," Dr. Clark hedged, trying not to look Sydney in the eye.

"No, Dr. Clark. You were always straight with Gage and me about his hearing loss. Don't start coddling me now!" she spat, tears spilling down her cheeks, her fists clenched at her sides.

"The reality is, Ranger Cooke, this kind of amnesia is usually permanent. There's a very good chance those memories will never return in their entirety, if they return at all."

All the anger washed out of her along with most of the color in her face. In their place were a vast emptiness and a pale, blank stare. Alex and Erika stepped quickly to her side and guided her to the waiting room's couch. She didn't even realize they were with her. All she knew was that the brightest day of her life had suddenly become the darkest.

End Chapter 5.


	6. Chapter 6

Better Late Than Never: Chapter 6

'_Snap out of it,' _Sydney told herself._ 'Gage needs you, even if he can't remember why.'_ She sniffed back her tears, straightened her spine and announced to anyone who cared to listen: "I'm going to see Gage. Now."

"Come with me, Ranger Cooke. I'll take you to him," Dr. Clark said.

Just as they stepped through the double swinging doors into the emergency room treatment area, a man with long, shaggy brown hair and a beard stepped through the curtain surrounding Gage's bed and held out his hand to Sydney.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Ainsley, chief of neurology. You must be Ranger Cooke, Ranger Gage's partner."

Sydney nodded and shook his hand, thinking that, if it weren't for the stethoscope and white coat, he'd look more like a surfer than a neurosurgeon. He was only an inch or two taller than her and he had brown eyes and a nice smile.

'_Wonder if anybody calls him 'Shorty'?'_ she thought to herself, before focusing once again on Gage.

"What did you find out? How much of his memory has he lost?" she asked, looking Dr. Ainsley straight in the eye.

"First, let me explain how retrograde amnesia works, or at least how we think it works. Memories are stored in the brain in much the same way that images are stored in a digital camera or video recorder. When we want to recall something, we hit 'play' and the brain calls up the requested material and we see, or hear, or smell it all over again."

Dr. Ainsley paused. "Are you with me so far?"

"Yes. Go on."

"In layman's terms, the blow Ranger Gage suffered damaged the 'playback' button in his brain. Current research suggests that the memories are still there, but he has lost the ability to retrieve them at will."

"Could it come back after the injury heals? Are there any treatment options? Therapy? Hypnosis?" Sydney asked. The look on Dr. Ainsley's face told her that she was grabbing at straws.

"There have been a few isolated cases of people with total recall written up in the medical journals. One young man lost his entire past following a high-speed crash. A month later, while playing tennis, he realized he was making the same mistake in his game that he had made years before and his entire memory came flooding back," he said, reluctantly. The hope shining in her eyes worried him. "But, please understand, Ranger Cooke. That happens in the movies a lot more than in the real world. Most people with retrograde amnesia never regain what was lost."

"Dr. Ainsley, you need to understand that Gage isn't most people. And neither am I," Sydney declared.

"I hope for both your sakes that you're right, Ranger Cooke."

"Were you able to determine Ranger Gage's missing time frame?" asked Dr. Clark.

"We think we've narrowed it down to the past four to six months. The fact that he recognized you and remembers needing surgery to repair his eardrums puts the far boundary around the time of the surgery. So far, he hasn't been able to recall anything between that hospital stay and this one, but his memory prior to his hearing loss appears to be still intact."

Sydney's own mind raced back to before the night of Gage's high school reunion. What had happened between them? Where had their feelings for each other stood then? Her pulse quickened as she recalled kissing him the night of Walker and Alex's wedding, but then stalled again as she remembered the time in the Sage City gym when he had given her an opportunity to kiss him again, but like an idiot she'd kicked him in the head instead.

"Hey, Syd, is that you? I can hear you, you know," Gage called from behind the curtain.

As she stepped through the curtain, Gage held out his arms to hug her and she practically threw herself on him, holding him as close as the bed and IV tube would allow.

"Uh, Syd, I can't breathe," he said, only half joking.

"Oh, sorry, I'm just so glad you're OK," Sydney said, releasing him reluctantly. She was unable to hold back the tears of relief at finally being able to see for herself that he was all right, at least physically.

"Syd, these doctors are telling me I have amnesia, but I don't understand them. I know who I am and who you are and Walker and Alex and everybody."

"But they said you don't remember how you got here tonight."

"Sure I do. I came here for the surgery to repair my eardrums. You drove me here."

"No, Gage, you're here because you were attacked by someone robbing the Golden Moon restaurant."

"What was I doing there? A robbery? Are Mr. Chen and Mai Lee all right?"

Dr. Ainsley made eye contact with Sydney from across the room, shook his head and mouthed the words, "Not now."

"They were both hurt, Gage. In fact, they are here in the hospital, too. How about if I go and check on them and then I'll come back and let you know what I find out, OK?"

"OK. I'm kind of sleepy from all the meds. Promise you'll wake me up when you get back? I want to know how they both are doing."

"I promise. You rest now," she said and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead.

"Hey, Syd?" Gage called out, his eyes drifting shut.

"Yeah, partner?"

"That was nice," he said, just as he dozed off.

-----

When they were back in the hallway, Sydney pounced on Dr. Ainsley.

"Why didn't you want me to answer Gage's questions? How is he supposed to remember if we don't tell him what happened?" she demanded.

"Ranger Cooke, in your work, how do you determine whether a witness is credible or not?" Dr. Ainsley said, answering a question with a question.

"We see if their story matches that of other witnesses," she said, his point finally dawning on her, "without telling them anything the first witness said. I get it. If I fill in all the blanks, we'll never know if he is actually remembering what happened or just accepting my story as the truth."

"Exactly," Dr. Ainsley said, smiling. "You will need to let him know things relating to his job, of course. I don't see any reason he can't return to work as soon as he feels physically fit enough to do so, but he will need to be brought up to speed on any recent cases."

"I can do that."

"There is one issue that has to be addressed sooner rather than later, however," Dr. Ainsley said. "He must be convinced that he has, in fact, lost the last several months. Unless he is cognizant of that fact, it will be like running into the same wall over and over again, every time he encounters something he should remember, but doesn't."

Dr. Clark touched Sydney's shoulder and she turned to look at him. "If there were something that happened within the memory loss time frame, something that he couldn't deny the truth of…"

"Angela!" Sydney shouted. The two doctors looked at her questioningly.

"Ranger Walker's wife had a baby girl three months ago. At the time of Gage's hearing loss, Alex was still pregnant. If he sees Alex and Angela together that might convince him, right?"

"Yes, I should think it would," Dr. Ainsley agreed.

Sydney came through the swinging doors looking like a woman on a mission. Approaching Alex, she said, "You and Angela have to come with me. Walker, you need to come, too."

"How is he, Sydney?" Alex asked as she picked up the sleeping baby from her car seat.

"He looks fine, but he really doesn't believe he's lost his memory. We need for him to see Angela, so that he will understand that a lot of time has passed since the last thing he remembers."

Sydney ushered the Walker family back to Gage's bedside. He was still sleeping, but as she had promised, Sydney gently shook his shoulder to wake him.

He awoke with a start and grabbed Sydney's hand, surprising everyone. Alex jumped, which startled Angela, who began to cry loudly.

Gage blinked a few times and stared at the wailing infant in Alex's arms. Then he looked at Alex's flat stomach and finally at his boss.

"Gage, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Angela. She was born three months ago tomorrow," Walker said, softly stroking his little girl's cheek in an effort to soothe her.

"Three months?" Gage said, the wheels beginning to turn in his head. The reality of it hit him like a ton of bricks. "Oh, dear God! What's happened to me?"

Still holding Sydney's hand, he looked from her to Walker to Angela. This couldn't be happening. Six months had gone by and he didn't remember any of it? It wasn't possible. He closed his eyes, squeezed them shut and then opened them, hoping that the world would be right again. Nope. He was still somewhere over the rainbow.

Seeing the pain and confusion in Gage's eyes was killing Sydney. She felt utterly helpless, which she guessed was nothing compared to how lost Gage must be feeling. There had to be something she could do.

For a moment, she considered administering a passionate kiss right there in the hospital in the hope that it would awaken even a flicker of the heat they'd generated in each other only a few short hours ago. Or maybe a subsequent knock on the head would jar things back into place? If kissing him didn't work, she could always kick him in the face again.

At last, Gage spoke. "Dr. Ainsley?"

"Yes, Ranger Gage?"

"How do I get it back? The chunk of my life that's missing, how do I get it back?"

Sydney was encouraged by the determination in his voice. Her man wasn't beaten yet.

"It may not ever come back. In the few cases of retrograde amnesia I've personally seen in my career, none of them has ever recovered more than bits and pieces of what was lost. And even that may be more a case of hearing the stories over and over again so that they think they remember the actual event when in fact they only remember what they were told."

Alex had succeeded in calming Angela down and she had an idea.

"Gage, I know you don't remember her, but you and this little one have a very special bond. Do you think you would like to hold her?"

"I don't know, Alex, I'm still kind of woozy. I wouldn't want to drop her."

"I doubt that will happen while you're sitting in a hospital bed. I'm OK with it if you are," Alex insisted.

"OK, if you're sure. I'd love to hold her," Gage said, his eyes misting as Alex carefully laid the little pink bundle in his arms. "Hello, Angela. You are so beautiful, just like your mom," he said softly in the singsong voice people use when they talk to babies. He stared at her intently, searching her face for any hint of familiarity. When he saw none, he held her gently against his chest and whispered, "I'm sorry I don't remember you, little darlin'."

Watching the tender moment from the other side of the bed, Sydney prayed that Angela would be the key to unlocking Gage's mind, but after several minutes it was plain to see that although he was falling head over heels for the tiny girl, it wasn't because he remembered her at all. It was simply because she had won him over with her adoring eyes and toothless grin.

_Well, if a three-month-old baby can get him to fall in love with her again, then so can I,_ Sydney thought. She smiled at the prospect of winning Gage's heart a second time, even though at the moment she had no idea how to go about it.

End Chapter 6.


	7. Chapter 7

Better Late Than Never: Chapter 7

Johnny Bruno had had enough. He didn't care what Tex said, he was going stir crazy and the stolen money was burning a hole in his pocket. He had a drug deal to make and he was tired of waiting.

"I'm sick of this dump. You heard the news report. The police don't have any leads in the case. Nobody can ID us…"

Tex cut him off. "You forgetting about that cop? He could have seen something before I whacked him."

"You should have killed that cop when you had the chance. You could have shot him with his own gun and they would've never found us," Johnny ranted for the umpteenth time since he and his two cousins had gone on their crime spree three days ago. The Golden Moon hold up had been sandwiched between robberies of a movie theater before and two liquor stores after, all three of which were accomplished without firing a shot from either Johnny's 9mm or the Colt .45 they stole from the unconscious cop.

"Maybe you'd be OK with killing a cop, but I ain't gonna end up on a gurney with death juice being pumped through my veins," Tex shot back.

Towering over his six-foot cousin by at least six inches and outweighing him by 80 pounds, Tex Hooper could easily have been mistaken for the leader of their little cabal, but it was really Johnny who called the shots most of the time. Tex had gotten Johnny to defer to him just this once on the issue of laying low for a few days until their trail got a little colder.

"Geez, there for a minute I thought you were goin' soft on me," Johnny countered. "I mean that was you that raped that China doll, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, but in the office in the back, not on the kitchen floor where you were gonna do it right in front of Marty. You about scared the hell out of him. And, by the way, if you hadn't been so keen on getting your jollies with her, we'd have been out the door and gone before that cop even showed up!"

"Why should you get to have all the fun? I'm taking the same risk as you and Marty," Johnny snapped. After a beat, he added, "Speaking of your baby brother, where is he anyway?"

Johnny stopped complaining long enough to look around the small efficiency motel room where the three of them had been staying. The motel was located in a rundown section of Dallas off I-20 and was managed by the family of a former teammate of Tex's from his high school football days. It was the kind of place where an extra twenty dollars silenced any questions and non-cooperation with the authorities was all part of the friendly service.

"It's Tuesday. He went to school," Tex stated matter-of-factly, adding, "I think he had a test today."

"He went to…how did he get there?" Johnny ran to the window to see if Marty's car was still parked in front of the room. The blue Camaro was right where they had left it the night before. Johnny turned back to Tex with a confused look on his face.

"I drove him. I knew you'd go crazy if we were stuck here all day with no wheels, so I took him to school while you were getting your beauty sleep," Tex said, almost apologetically. Tex was bigger and stronger than Johnny, but over the years he'd come to learn that his older cousin had a mean streak a mile wide and the only thing he was afraid of was missing out on whatever "action", as Johnny called it, was going down.

"Well, you just better hope he keeps his whiny mouth shut. How's he getting back here? Are you going to risk pulling up in front of Liberty High in the getaway car again?"

"No, and he's not coming back here. He's going home after school. He should never have gotten mixed up in this in the first place, Johnny. He's no criminal. He's still got a chance to have a future in the real world. That is, if we didn't completely screw that up Saturday night," Tex lamented.

Johnny knew Tex would do anything to protect Marty, including rat his sorry ass out if they ever did get caught. He hadn't intended to shoot the old man; the gun was just supposed to scare him. But then Tex got a look at the girl and when the old man tried to stop him from taking her, Johnny stuck the gun against his chest to push him back. No one, except maybe the old man himself, was more surprised than Johnny when the gun went off, blowing a hole in the old man's chest.

Thinking back on it made him recall that they still had the cop's gun in the glove compartment of Marty's car. For now, that was probably the best place for it. Thank God that scaredy-cat kid hadn't taken the damn car to school.

-----

Gage sat at his desk in Company B headquarters, having made it through the first three hours of his first day back at work without feeling like either a total idiot or a lost child. Everyone had been very helpful and understanding. He'd had to learn the names of a few people who had been hired recently and the new paint jobs in the mens bathroom and the locker room were a surprise, but everything else was pretty much as he remembered it. He hoped that it wouldn't take more than a day or two for the pity to disappear from everyone's eyes when they looked at him. After all, it wasn't like he was dying or anything.

He reached across his desk and picked up the one thing he hadn't recognized when he had arrived this morning. It was a set of fake vampire teeth, not the plastic ones kids get at Halloween, but a 'real' set. When he had asked why they were on his desk, Sydney told him he had actually worn them while he performed several stunts during the filming of a low-budget vampire flick called, "13 Coffins."

"I was a stunt double for a vampire?" he had asked, incredulously. "Who talked me into that?"

"Lily Jenner, the hot, hot, hot actress who played the vampire princess might have had something to do with it," piped up Trivette from his desk.

"Now there's a memory you can do without," Sydney had carped, realizing too late that she had said it out loud.

"How come, Syd?" Gage wondered, truly curious about her reaction to Trivette's comment. She had been acting kind of odd around him ever since she picked him up at the hospital on Monday. Didn't she know that he hated not remembering things, especially things that had to do with her? But maybe this time it wasn't about her. Was that what made her mad?

Before Sydney could answer Gage's question, Walker had called her into his office and when she came out, she said she and Walker were going to the hospital to interview Mr. Chen and Mai Lee.

Gage had started to ask if he could go along, but decided against it. Walker had said he would be riding a desk for the rest of the week until his doctor cleared him for full duty. No sense rocking the boat, especially since Walker was kind of bending the rules in letting him come back this week at all.

He spent the rest of the morning catching up on recent cases, familiarizing himself with the details by reading case files and court transcripts until he thought his head would explode.

One report he came across was left unfinished in mid-sentence. It was dated the day before his injury, and as he read through it, he could have sworn he caught a whiff of the flowery aroma of Sydney's shampoo. Where had that come from? Gage chalked it up as just another in the dozens of impressions he had gotten over the past few days that left him wondering what was a real memory and what was just wishful thinking.

-----

Marty Hooper unzipped his black nylon backpack and peeked inside; telling himself it was the last time. He couldn't afford to get caught gawking into his backpack during class and have Mr. Fiorelli ask him to show the class what was so fascinating.

The gun was still there, of course, right where he'd put it after sneaking it out of the glove compartment while Tex was pumping gas this morning on the way to school. With its dull gray barrel and black handle grips, it looked like a toy gun he'd once owned that came as part of a 'cops and robbers' play set. The real weapon was much bigger and heavier than Marty had expected. Johnny said it was a Colt .45, which meant it was bigger and deadlier than the 9mm pistol Johnny was so proud of. Maybe if he kept the thing Johnny would be scared of him for once instead of the other way around.

_No_, he thought, _better stick to the original plan._

Just as he zipped the backpack shut again, the bell rang and everyone began filing out of the classroom on the way to their next class. Marty hoisted the backpack onto his shoulder and shuffled along with everyone else, until someone tugged on his elbow.

"Psssst, hey Marty, what's in the backpack, man?" asked his friend, Jeff, in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Just books, man," Marty answered in the same tone.

"Right. That why you had to keep looking in there every ten seconds, to check on your books?"

"Whatever, man. I'm late for chemistry," Marty huffed, slipping past the boy and sprinting down the hall.

Sliding into his seat at the lab table just as the next bell rang, Marty turned to the boy on his right and whispered, "Hey man, I need to talk to you after class, OK?"

"Sure, Marty, what's up?" Mark responded.

"I'll tell you later," he answered, leaving Mark to wonder what kind of trouble his lab partner might have gotten into this time.

He didn't mind helping Marty out of the occasional scrape, but his own butt was in a big enough sling since that Ranger had driven him home after he caught him and Juliet in the bathroom at the Sweet 16 party. Not only was he grounded for three weeks, but his dad had also confiscated his cell phone and assigned his younger sister as his personal chauffeur. But, torture though it was, it wasn't Marty's fault and Marty was a good friend, so as long as whatever he needed didn't require private transportation or wireless communication, Mark would be happy to help his buddy out.

-----

On the way to the hospital, Sydney stared silently out the window of Walker's truck. Walker didn't have to be a genius to know what she was thinking about.

"I was pretty scared that night myself," he confessed to her.

"I'm glad you didn't show it. I was barely holding it together. I couldn't have gotten through it if you hadn't been so strong, all of you," Sydney said, turning to look at her boss.

"We'll always be here for you, Sydney, for both of you," he assured her.

"I know that and I really appreciate it," she answered quietly.

"Is something else bothering you?"

"Do you think Gage came back to work too soon? I told him he should take another couple of days off, but he insisted on coming back today even if he is stuck at his desk."

"I can understand him wanting to get back as soon as possible, Syd. He may have lost some memories, but he is still Gage and the only thing he loves more than being a Texas Ranger is you," Walker affirmed.

"I know things are…well, strange…right now, but are you really OK with Gage and I being a couple and still being partners?" Sydney wasn't quite sure where she had found the nerve to ask him that, but now that it was out there, she really needed to know.

"Sydney, I wouldn't have it any other way. You two were partners long before you were anything else and your working relationship is one of the best I have ever seen. You understand each others' thoughts as easily as your own; it's almost like you are two halves of the same spirit, the same soul. I'd be crazy to mess with that," he said, turning to look at her only to find tears running down her face.

"Then how could he forget me?" she cried. "How could he forget us?" She thought about the past three days and all the times she'd had to stop herself from telling Gage all about their night at the governor's mansion, all the times she had wanted to hold him, all the times she wished he would kiss her again like he had that night.

They had spent the entire day together on Monday doing all the things they always did -- working out, having lunch, even going to a movie – but somehow instead of being fun, it felt empty to her. It had been hard to keep smiling and not let on that anything was different. Now that she had let herself move forward into a committed relationship with him, she didn't know if she could go back to being 'just partners' with him. Then again, she couldn't stand the idea of losing him as a partner either. Somehow, she had to help him remember their love, but how?

"Sydney, remember what the doctor said?" Walker broke in to her thoughts. "The memories are still in there; he's just having trouble retrieving them. You two have shared so much in a relatively short time. Your feelings for each other are so true and so deep that there must be a way to tap into that."

Now all she had to do was figure out what that was. Sure. No problem.

End Chapter 7.


	8. Chapter 8

Better Late Than Never: Chapter 8

"Are you crazy? Why do you have…that?" Mark demanded, unwilling to say out loud what he had just seen hidden in Marty's backpack, even though they were all alone in the bleachers on the junior varsity football team's practice field.

"I'm trying to get it back where it belongs without getting me or anyone else in trouble," Marty replied.

"Where did you get it?"

Marty's slender shoulders slumped as he looked away from his friend's piercing green-eyed gaze. "I can't tell you."

"This has something to do with Tex and that criminal cousin of yours, doesn't it? Marty? Doesn't it?"

"That doesn't matter. All I need is for you to get this to a police station. I read somewhere that if you find a gun and turn it in to the police, they take it, no questions asked," Marty explained.

"Then why don't you take it?" Mark retorted.

"Because you are Mark Fitzgerald, golden boy of Liberty High. No one will think twice if you say this thing isn't yours, if you say that you found it and just wanted to do the right thing. Please, Mark, you have to help me," Marty pleaded, his blue eyes filled with desperation.

"No way am I going to waltz into a police station carrying that thing. But I think I might know someone who can help," Mark insisted, reaching into the side pocket of his backpack. "Ah, crap, I forgot I don't have my cell phone."

Mark ran his fingers through his collar length dark hair, trying to think of how he was going to get Juliet to call Ranger Gage without telling her why. He didn't want her to be mixed up in Marty's problem anymore than he wanted to be himself, but there was no one he trusted more than Juliet.

"Come on. I'm supposed to meet Juliet at Starbucks on the way home. We can use her phone," Mark said, sounding a lot more confident about the whole thing than he felt.

-----

Walker knocked lightly on the door of Mr. Chen's hospital room. A middle-aged Asian woman with bright eyes and a warm smile opened the door and welcomed him in.

"Please come in, Ranger Walker. My brother is feeling much better and is anxious to speak with you," she told him.

"Thank you, Mrs. Pei. Mr. Chen, it's good to see you again, sir," he offered, shaking Mr. Chen's outstretched hand.

"Ranger Walker, I wanted to thank you again for all that you and your fellow Rangers have done for us. How is Ranger Gage?" the older man asked, his voice filled with concern.

"He is physically fine, but he has had some memory loss due to his head injury. He's trying to work through it. I know he will be glad to hear that you are going to make a full recovery," Walker replied.

"I sense that you did not come here to talk about my recovery," Mr. Chen stated.

"No, sir, I was hoping that you could tell me something about the men who robbed you. Anything that you remember could be of help in our investigation," Walker said.

The old man lay still, closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. With his eyes still closed, he began to speak.

"It was about thirty minutes before closing time and everyone except Mai Lee and I had gone home. Our last customer had gone about ten minutes before this. I was at the register, counting the day's receipts when three men came in wearing black masks over their faces. The first one was very tall and muscular, very strong looking. The second was not as tall and was thinner, but he held the gun and did most of the talking. The last one was smaller than the other two and his eyes – they were blue – looked everywhere at once, like he was afraid the walls would fall at any moment."

"You said the second one did the talking. What did he say?"

"He pointed the gun in my face and said, 'Hand over all the cash.' Then the big one handed me a take-out food bag to put the money in. I did as they said."

"Where was Mai Lee?"

Mr. Chen opened his eyes and Walker saw them fill with tears. "She was in the kitchen. I tried to get the money in the bag quickly so they would leave before she came out front, but my hands were shaking and the money spilled on the floor. The little one helped me pick it up, but by then Mai Lee was in the dining room and the big one saw her…Oh, my sister, I am so sorry."

Mrs. Pei hugged her brother and whispered something in Chinese. When she stood up again, Mr. Chen continued.

"I tried to stop him, but the one with the gun used it to push me away and then it went off. I fell to the floor behind the counter and that is where Ranger Gage found me when he arrived several minutes later. I could not see anything once I was on the ground."

"Did they talk to each other, or maybe call each other by name?"

"The big one spoke to the frightened one. He said, 'Watch the door, little brother.' I assumed he meant the front door, but they must have all been in the kitchen when Ranger Gage came in."

"Did you see which one hit Ranger Gage?" Walker asked hopefully.

"No, I am sorry. I must have passed out. The last thing I remember is telling Ranger Gage they took Mai Lee to the kitchen," Mr. Chen replied.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen. You've been a big help. You rest and get well and I will keep you posted on our investigation," Walker said, shaking Mr. Chen's hand and tipping his hat to Mrs. Pei as he left the room.

-----

A few doors down the hall, Sydney knocked on the open door of Mai Lee's room. Two Asian men in their late twenties with long shiny black hair and dark eyes stood up from their chairs when she entered.

"May we help you?" asked the taller of the two.

"I'm Ranger Cooke. I came to talk with Mai Lee about Saturday night," Sydney answered, extending her hand to the speaker.

"I am Ning and this is my brother, Xiang," he stated, nodding toward the other man as he grasped Sydney's hand in a firm handshake. "Mai Lee is our sister," he explained.

"I'm very sorry for what's happened to your family, but I was hoping Mai Lee could tell me something about the men who attacked her," Sydney said, looking at the young woman in the bed.

Xiang started to object, but Mai Lee nodded. "I want to help in any way I can, Ranger Cooke. Please excuse my brothers. They are only trying to protect me," she said, smiling and giving Xiang's hand a squeeze. she said something to both men in Chinese and they excused themselves and walked down the hall to their uncle's room.

"I sent them away, so that I can be truthful with you about what happened to me. It would not be proper for me to discuss it with a stranger in their presence," she explained.

"I understand completely. Can you tell me anything that might help us identify the man who hurt you?"

"His eyes were gray, like the sky before a storm, and he smelled like popcorn from the movies. When he pulled his mask up a little so he could kiss me, I noticed a small scar in the shape of a triangle on his chin. His hands were very large, twice the size of mine, and very strong," Mai Lee recounted. Her eyes were dry and she spoke in a clear, steady voice, but Sydney could sense a deep anger lying just beneath the surface.

"Did he say anything?" Sydney asked.

"He told one of the other men to watch the door to the kitchen. He called the other one, 'little brother'," Mai Lee replied.

"Did he say anything else?"

"Do you mean when he attacked me?"

Sydney nodded, greatly impressed by the young woman's strength and courage in the face of reliving her horrific ordeal.

"He said, 'Keep quiet and I won't hurt you. You are so beautiful.' Then he kissed me and put his hands on my breasts under my shirt. That was the first time I screamed and he punched me in the face," she continued, touching the huge black and purple bruise that covered her right cheek. She described the rape as it happened in her uncle's office and then went on to say that when the man was finished, he dragged her into the kitchen and threw her to the floor.

"Then the one with the gun handed it to the smallest one and said, 'My turn.' I screamed again, and then one of them hit me again. The little one called him Johnny, I think. I heard him ask where 'Tex' was and then the big one came back in the kitchen and yelled at the other two to leave right away. I heard sirens just before I blacked out," Mai Lee finished.

"The one they called 'Tex' must have hit Gage, since the other two were still in the kitchen," Sydney observed.

"If that is so, then Ranger Gage is lucky to be alive, as lucky as me," Mai Lee added.

"Yes, he is, Mai Lee. Very lucky," Sydney agreed. "Thank you for talking to me. You have been a big help,' she said, giving the young woman's shoulder a squeeze as she turned to leave.

Closing the door behind her, Sydney saw Walker coming toward her.

"Was Mai Lee able to tell you anything?" he inquired.

"Walker, I can practically draw pictures of these three guys from her descriptions. She was able to see a scar on her rapist and she heard two names, Johnny and Tex," Sydney filled him in, adding, "She also said the guy smelled like movie popcorn. What do you make of that?"

"I don't know yet. Let's get back to headquarters and start looking for known offenders who go by Johnny and Tex and see what we find. Mr. Chen said one of them called another one 'little brother', so maybe at least two of them are related," Walker speculated,

"The family that robs and rapes together…" Sydney started to say, but let the thought go unfinished.

Walker picked up on her comment and added, "Goes to jail together."

"Amen, boss. Amen."

-----

"Hi, sweetie, you're late. Hi Marty," Juliet called as the two boys approached the outdoor table where she was enjoying a caramel latte.

Mark gave Juliet a quick kiss. "Mmm. Caramel. Yum," he grinned, licking his lips.

"Hey, Juliet, how's it goin'?" Marty posed.

He didn't know Juliet very well, only through his friendship with Mark. Even though he and Mark were pretty good friends, they didn't really travel in the same circles. Mark's family was rich and lived in a gated community that was actually in the zone where Liberty High was located. Marty's family was blue collar all the way, but education was a high priority, so they were paying tuition for Marty to attend Liberty, which was ranked as one of the best high schools in the state.

"Good, Marty, how are you?" Juliet replied. She was surprised to see Mark's lab partner. They rarely spent time together outside of school. Not only that, Mark had told her a little bit about Marty's older brother, Tex, and she hadn't liked what she'd heard. Mark assured her that the brothers were nothing alike; they were even polar opposites physically. Tex was built like a pro wrestler, with long bushy brown hair. Marty was a head shorter, built like a pencil and had short blond hair and wary blue eyes. Still, Juliet wished that Mark would keep his distance from that family.

"I'm OK," Marty answered, keeping his eyes from meeting hers.

"Mark, what's going on?" Juliet insisted. "You two look like a couple of hound dogs that got caught chewing up a hundred dollar pair of shoes."

"We need to use your cell phone. Well, actually, we need you to call someone for us," Mark said, keeping his voice low.

"Who?" Juliet asked, her curiosity running in the red zone.

"That Ranger that busted us on Saturday. Didn't he tell you if you ever needed anything to call him?" Mark rattled off so fast she almost didn't understand him.

"Huh? Ranger Gage?" she confirmed, her hackles rising, since she knew Marty had to have gotten Mark into something pretty serious for him to ever want anything to do with Ranger Gage again. She had to force herself not to yell when she shot back, "What do _I_ need him for, Mark?"

"Just tell him to meet Marty and me here as soon as he can, OK?" Mark pleaded. "You have to trust me, babe. It's not a bad thing. It's serious, but not bad. Will you just please call him?"

"It isn't you I don't trust, Mark," she fumed, shooting Marty a look that would have blistered paint as she opened her cell phone and dialed 4-1-1.

Marty feigned great interest in the front window display of Starbucks as he listened to Juliet talking to the operator.

"Yes, could I please have the number for the Texas Ranger Station Company B? Thank you," she said without a hint of the venom that had been in her voice seconds earlier. While she waited for the 411 operator to connect her with Ranger headquarters, she took a deep breath and hoped Ranger Gage remembered his promise to help her if she ever needed him.

-----

At about 3:30 p.m., the phone on Gage's desk rang for the first time all day. When he answered it, he hoped it was Sydney with a report on their interviews with Mr. Chen and Mai Lee.

"Texas Rangers Company B, Ranger Gage speaking," he answered automatically.

"Hi Ranger Gage. It's Juliet Davis. Do you remember me?"

The voice was young, female and friendly, but it was as totally unfamiliar to him as the name.

_Here we go,_ Gage thought to himself. _Here we go._

End Chapter 8.


	9. Chapter 9

Better Late Than Never: Chapter 9

"Actually, no, I don't remember you, but that doesn't necessarily mean I can't help you," Gage replied, adding, "Can you tell me why I should remember you?"

"We met Saturday night at the Sweet 16 party at the governor's mansion. My boyfriend and I got into some trouble and you and your partner gave us rides home. You were really kind and you said if I ever needed anything to call you at Company B headquarters. Remember?" Juliet said hopefully.

"Juliet was it?"

"Yes, Juliet Davis. My boyfriend's name is Mark Fitzgerald."

"Juliet, I got hurt at work a few days ago and since then I've had trouble remembering things that happened in the recent past. I don't remember you or your boyfriend, but I would still like to know why you called me today. I'd like to help if I can," Gage explained, telling her as much of the truth as he figured she needed to know. Heck, it was about all he knew himself.

"Well, Mark and his friend, Marty, would like to meet with you at the Starbucks near Liberty High School. Do you know where that is?"

"I think so. Juliet, can you tell me what this is about?"

"They want to explain everything in person. Can I tell them to expect you soon?"

"Yes, I should be there in about twenty minutes," Gage stated.

"Ranger Gage?"

"Yes, Juliet."

"Will your partner be with you?"

"She's not here right now, but I'll call her and ask her to meet us there. I'm on my way, Juliet. Don't worry, OK?" Gage assured her.

"OK, I'll see you soon. Thank you, Ranger Gage," Juliet replied, snapping her phone shut and standing up. "He said he'll be here in about twenty minutes."

"That's great, honey. Thanks for doing this," Mark smiled, giving her a hug. Turning to his friend, he said, "I'm going to get a cup of coffee while we wait. Do you want something?"

"No, thanks, but I'll come in with you," Marty replied, not wanting to be alone at the table with Juliet.

-----

Gage stood up from his desk and reached into his top drawer expecting to find his department-issued Colt .45 pistol, but it wasn't there. For a second he started to panic, but then he remembered that Walker said his gun had been stolen by whoever knocked him out.

Like any peace officer, he felt a kind of kinship with his weapon and the Colt had been his favorite. He missed it and he wanted it back. Like a jealous lover, he thought of someone else carrying his gun and his blood boiled.

_Turns out you stole more than my gun, but whatever it takes, I'm going to get everything back that you took from me. Everything,_ Gage silently promised his unknown assailant.

Just then his new cell phone buzzed and chirped inside his pocket.

"Hey, Syd, I was just going to call you," Gage told his partner.

"OK, you first. What were you going to call me about?"

"I just talked to a Juliet Davis who said I met her Saturday night at the governor's mansion. Apparently, her boyfriend, a guy named Mark Fitzgerald, wants me to meet him and another friend of his at the Starbucks near Liberty High School. I told her I'd be there in twenty minutes. Any chance you can meet me there?"

"Actually, Walker and I are just pulling into the lot at headquarters now, so you and I could probably ride over there together. I'll just need to check with Walker to see if he needs me to help him follow up on the information we got from Mr. Chen and Mai Lee," Sydney informed him.

Gage heard a muffled version of Walker's voice say something to Sydney, followed by Sydney telling him, "I'm cleared for take-off. I'll meet you at your car in five, OK?"

"Sounds great. Bye," he concluded, pocketing his phone and heading for the door.

-----

On the way to Starbucks, Sydney filled Gage in on what she and Walker had learned from Mr. Chen and Mai Lee.

"So, they think the one that hit me is named Tex something-or-other, which means Tex is probably the one who has my gun, too," Gage said.

"Probably," Sydney agreed, glancing at her partner and noticing that he was gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white.

Everything in her wanted to reach out to him, to tell him she understood, not only as the woman who loved him but also as a Ranger. She knew how she would feel knowing that her weapon was out there somewhere in the hands of a criminal who was probably all too willing to use it, but she couldn't imagine how she would feel if she had no memory of how she lost it, no clue as to who took it. No, she decided, she really didn't understand what Gage was going through at all, and it broke her heart.

"What's the matter, Syd? You look like you lost your last friend," Gage observed.

"It's nothing. I'm OK. I was actually just trying to imagine what you're going through and I really can't," she admitted, adding, "Besides, I've still got at least one friend as long as I have you, right?" She smiled and punched him gently in the arm.

Gage didn't answer her right away. Instead, he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, like he did when he was nervous.

"Right, Gage?" Sydney pushed, an uneasy feeling creeping into her gut.

"Syd, I hate feeling like I'm missing something, like somebody told a joke and I'm the only one who doesn't get it. But I could almost live with that if I didn't keep getting the impression that I'm letting you down somehow. Syd, what did I do, or not do, that keeps upsetting you? Did we have a fight that I forgot about? Whatever it was, I'm sorry, truly sorry," he confessed, fighting a lump in his throat.

Sydney was stunned. She thought she'd done such a good job of hiding her disappointment, but she should have known that he would see through her; he always had. Now he was blaming himself for her pain and she couldn't live with that.

"No, Gage, we didn't have a fight and you didn't do anything wrong. You've never let me down, not ever. I'm the one who should apologize for making you feel guilty for something you have no control over, even though I never intended to make you feel that way," Sydney consoled him.

He turned the car into the Starbucks parking lot, found a spot near the outdoor tables and turned off the engine before he looked at her again.

"I want to remember, Syd. I'd give anything to remember. Please believe that," he begged.

"I do believe that, Gage. And for the record, I'd give anything, too," she assured him.

As they exited the car, a pretty blond girl in her mid-teens approached them. Her long hair danced on the stiff autumn breeze and when she smiled her blue eyes sparkled.

"Hello, Ranger Gage, Ranger Cooke. It's good to see you again," she said, extending her hand first to Gage and then to Sydney.

"Hello, Juliet. It's good to see you, too, but I am surprised to see you again so soon," Sydney told her.

"I know what you mean. I was pretty amazed myself when Mark asked me to call you, Ranger Gage," she replied, leading them toward the table where she had been sitting. "I'll just go inside and get the boys."

"Any idea what this is all about?" Sydney asked Gage, who shrugged and told her what Juliet had said about explaining in person.

Inside the coffee shop, Marty's jaw dropped as he watched the tall blond Ranger get out of the silver sedan and shake hands with Juliet. He wasn't wearing a tuxedo and he looked bigger now that he wasn't passed out cold on the floor, but there was no doubt he was the same cop Tex had whacked, the same one whose gun was in his backpack right now.

He looked toward the back door, trying to decide if he should run for it, but before he could take the first step, he saw Juliet motioning to them to come outside.

"Hey, they're here, man. Let's go get this over with," Mark said, tugging on Marty's sleeve.

"Yeah, right. I'm coming," Marty answered flatly, heaving his backpack up on his shoulder. It might as well have weighed a thousand pounds.

"Ranger Gage, this is my boyfriend, Mark Fitzgerald and his friend, Marty Hooper," Juliet announced, touching Mark's arm and then pointing toward Marty.

Gage shook hands with both boys. Turning to Mark, he explained, "I don't actually remember you. I know that sounds strange, but I was injured a few days ago and lost some of my memory, including Saturday night. But, it's nice meeting you again."

"Same here. I'm sorry to hear that you were hurt," Mark said.

Marty couldn't believe his ears. The cop lost his memory? Maybe his luck wasn't all bad after all.

"Why did you want to see me, Mark?" Gage asked.

"Well, it was actually Marty who…uh, Marty, why don't you just show him what you have?" Mark stammered.

"It's in here," Marty whispered as he looked around to make sure no one was watching them. He hoisted the backpack up onto the table, opened the zipper and took two steps back. "Have a look."

Gage stepped forward, peered into the open pocket and froze, unable to believe his eyes. There, between two notebooks and a copy of Roget's Thesaurus, was a Colt .45 pistol that looked exactly like his.

"Hey, Marty, you got a pencil or a pen in here somewhere I can borrow?" Gage asked, trying to sound casual even though his heart was racing a mile a minute.

"Yeah, small pocket in front," he directed.

"Juliet, I need you to go inside and ask for a paper bag, just a bag with nothing in it," Gage instructed.

"Gage, what have you got there?" Sydney finally asked, as she watched Juliet go inside again.

He motioned silently for her to come and see for herself.

"I don't believe it!" Sydney exclaimed after looking in the backpack.

"Me neither, but let's not get too excited until we get it back to headquarters and make sure it's what we think it is," he cautioned.

"Here's the bag," Juliet said, handing him a small square brown paper sack with a Starbuck's logo on it.

Using the pencil he got from the front pocket, Gage lifted the weapon out of the backpack by the trigger guard and dropped it into the paper bag in his other hand. The bag was too small for the gun, leaving part of the barrel sticking out, but it still allowed him to carry the weapon without destroying any fingerprints that might be on it.

"Syd, would you please put this in the car while I have a word with the kids?" Gage requested.

"Sure thing. Be right back," Sydney answered.

"Marty, where did you get that gun?" Gage queried, trying to keep his tone light. The kid had cooperated fully so far. The last thing Gage wanted was to scare him into silence.

"I found it, but I can't tell you where," Marty hedged, his eyes looking everywhere but at Gage.

"Can't or won't? Think before you answer, Marty, because a big part of your future could depend on how you handle this. Up to now, you've done the right thing by turning the gun in to law enforcement, so keep on doing the right thing and tell me where you found it."

Marty looked at Mark, sending him a silent plea for help, but his buddy just shrugged. He was on his own.

"I thought if you turned in a gun, you could do it with no questions asked," Marty protested.

"I'm confused, Marty. If you found this gun and had nothing whatsoever to do with how it went missing in the first place, then it seems to me that you would probably be anxious to tell the story, not just to me, but to anyone who would listen. I mean what's cooler than finding a real gun, right? But you don't seem to want to tell that story. So, you can see why I'm confused, can't you, Marty?"

"Please, Marty, if you know something, you should tell them," Mark admonished him, adding, "I know the gun isn't yours and I know you would never do anything on purpose to hurt somebody. Don't get yourself into trouble for something your…"

"Shut up, Mark!" Marty barked, stopping Mark in mid sentence. "Just shut up!"

"Take it easy, Marty," Gage said, soothingly. "I'm just trying to get some answers so I can fill in all the blanks on the stack of paperwork I have to fill out on a found weapon. I hate paperwork, man, and my boss hates it when I leave blanks on the page. If he finds blanks, then I have to do it over and, did I mention I hate paperwork? So help me out, here, would you?" He knew Marty was probably protecting someone, so he was trying to appeal to his need to be the hero. It didn't work.

"I found that gun and you can't prove I didn't. I said all I'm going to say. I'm outta here," Marty snapped, grabbing his backpack and heading across the parking lot.

Sydney was on her way back from the car when she saw Marty leaving. She made eye contact with Gage, raised her eyebrows in a questioning glance and pointed at Marty.

"You want me to stop him?" she asked.

"No, he's not going to tell us anything. Besides, we know his first and last name and the school he goes to. He won't be hard to find if we need him," Gage responded.

Turning to Juliet and Mark, Gage said, "I can't tell you how much we appreciate your help with this."

"I don't suppose you could tell my dad what a big help we were, so maybe he'll lift my punishment from Saturday night, could you?"

"That depends on what you did Saturday night," Gage answered.

"Never mind. I'd rather just suffer the grounding than have to hear another lecture," Mark laughed. Noting Gage's confused look, he added, "Let's just say that I thought a lot about what you said and you were absolutely right; Juliet is worth waiting for." He smiled at Juliet, who gave him a kiss on the cheek as he put an arm around her shoulders.

"I said that?" Gage wondered.

"Not in so many words, but that was the message, and I got it, loud and clear."

"Well, good, I guess. Thanks again," Gage said, shaking both their hands one last time. "And if you ever need anything…"

"We'll call you," Juliet broke in, waving to both Rangers as they headed back to their car.

End Chapter 9.


	10. Chapter 10

Better Late Than Never: Chapter 10

While Sydney dropped the .45 off at the forensics lab, Gage went upstairs to tell Walker about Marty and the recovered weapon. When he entered the office, he found Walker and Trivette huddled in front of Trivette's computer.

"Looks like you found something interesting," Gage commented as he walked over to join them.

"Take a look," Trivette offered. "Do these guys look familiar?"

On the screen were two mug shots, side by side. Gage didn't recognize either of the scruffy faces, but one of the names all but jumped off the screen at him.

"Hooper? That's this guy's name?" Gage inquired, pointing to the image of Tex Hooper.

"Yeah, do you recognize him?" Walker asked hopefully.

"No, not his face, but I just met a guy named Marty Hooper who could definitely be related to both of these guys. They're far from identical, but there's definitely a resemblance," Gage informed them, adding with a grin, "but that's not the best part."

"So, what's the best part?" Trivette asked anxiously.

"Marty turned over a Colt .45 to Syd and me that looks exactly like the one that was stolen from me," Gage stated.

Before Walker and Trivette could even react, Sydney burst through the door with the report from forensics and announced, "It is definitely your gun and they found clean fingerprints on it belonging to none other than Tex Hooper."

Gage collapsed into a chair beside Trivette's desk as relief washed over him. One part of this nightmare was over. Sydney and Trivette both gave him high-fives.

"So where did you guys come up with Tex and, who was the other guy, Johnny Bruno?" Gage asked, looking at the screen again.

"Mr. Chen and Mai Lee had both heard the assailants use their first names in conversation that night, so we started looking for known offenders with those names who might have been arrested together or arrested for similar crimes. We added in the physical descriptions like height, build and eye color and this is what came up. It also turns out that Tex and Johnny are cousins," Trivette explained.

"What did Marty tell you about how he got the gun?" Walker posed.

"Nothing, but it was obvious he was protecting someone. Syd, didn't Mai Lee say that one of them called another one 'little brother'?" Gage asked.

"Yes. They both said the big one called the smallest one 'little brother'," Sydney replied.

"Which explains how Marty got the gun. He was there," Gage said sadly.

"Why so glum, partner?"

"I don't know, Syd. You met him. Did he seem like someone who would participate in an armed robbery or a rape?"

"No. He seemed like a decent kid who was scared of his own shadow until he stood up to you and refused to tell you where he got the gun," she said.

"Right, so why would he turn the gun in to us, knowing it could incriminate him and his brother? It doesn't make any sense," Gage observed.

"There's something else to consider," Trivette interjected. "If he was there, then he saw you, Gage. He had to have recognized you and he has to wonder why you didn't recognize him."

"Well, when we got there, I explained to Mark about my memory loss and Marty was standing right there, so he knows I don't remember what happened."

"According to Mr. Chen and Mai Lee, they all wore ski masks, so you wouldn't have seen their faces anyway," Sydney put in, adding, "but you're right, Trivette, why would he risk it?"

"Unless he thought that by turning in the gun he could take some of the heat off of the three of them," Walker guessed. "As far as recognizing Gage goes, even Marty must have realized that was just an amazing coincidence, but if he's as scared as you say, then maybe he got roped into helping with the robbery, saw things get out of control, and now is looking for a way to get back on the right side of the law."

"If that turns out to be true, I'd like to see this kid get a break, Walker. I think he really did just want to do the right thing, but got caught up in his loyalty to his brother," Gage proposed.

"Can you get back in touch with him?" Walker inquired.

Gage nodded. "Yeah, I think I know someone we can call."

-----

"OK, Tex, where's the cop's gun?" Johnny demanded as he slammed the door to the motel room shut behind him. Darkness was falling and a chilly wind had started to blow outside.

"In the glove compartment where you put it last night," Tex responded without taking his eyes off the TV.

"No, it isn't. I just looked in there and it's gone," Johnny informed him.

"What do you mean 'gone'? Who would have…" his voice trailed off as he realized who must have taken the gun.

"Oh, glory be!" Johnny shouted. "I knew we should have stolen a car, but noooo, you said we should just take Marty's car and then Marty wants to know what for and…oh, hell, now look what's happened!" he raged.

"You said we could use a third man and nobody is better at watching my back than Marty," Tex snapped back. "He won't talk, Johnny. Besides, he doesn't even know about the drug deal. He thinks we did all this for kicks."

"What difference does that make? He knows where we are and if he does anything stupid with that gun and gets caught, he may try to protect you, but he will turn me in so fast my head will spin," Johnny wailed.

Tex shook a finger at him. "Well, now, that's what you get for beating him up every other day and teasing him and calling him 'runt' all the time."

"Oh, for crying out loud, just get your stuff together. We gotta get outta here and fast," he said, as he threw a duffel bag at Tex and swept the stolen cash off the kitchen table and into a motel pillowcase.

Johnny would have enjoyed giving that scrawny kid one more good beating, one he would never forget. It would almost be worth the risk of getting caught to do it. Almost.

As soon as they finished packing, they left the room. Johnny tossed their bags into the trunk of Marty's car and then climbed into the passenger seat as Tex slammed the car into gear and peeled out of the motel parking lot. If they hurried, Johnny figured, they would make Mexico by morning.

-----

Marty sat alone in the Company B interrogation room, silently kicking himself for buying that damn Camaro in the first place. If he hadn't bought the car, he reasoned, then it wouldn't have been there for Tex and Johnny to use and he wouldn't have gotten drafted into being the wheel man in those robberies and Tex wouldn't have hit that Ranger Gage and he wouldn't be sitting in this interrogation room waiting for Ranger Gage to bring the head Ranger in here to try to get him to tell where Tex was. Yeah, if only he hadn't fallen in love with that stupid car.

Of course, he was pretty mad at Mark, too, since he was the one who told Ranger Gage where he lived. He wasn't particularly surprised when the two Rangers had shown up at his house while he and his mom were eating dinner. He figured they'd put it together pretty quickly. At least, the Rangers hadn't let on to his mom about why they really needed to see him. They had just said that Marty had some information about an investigation they were working on and not to worry. They even said they'd have him home by ten o'clock. He looked at the clock on the wall above the mirror; it read 7:20.

On the other side of the observation glass, Walker and Gage watched Marty stew in his chair. They noticed he chewed his lower lip quite a bit and picked at his cuticles. When he started drumming his fingers on the table, Walker figured he'd had long enough to think about his options.

Gage opened the door and held it for Walker before entering the room himself and closing the door.

"Marty, I'd like you to meet my boss, Sergeant Walker. He wanted to thank you personally for turning in that weapon earlier today."

"I sure did," Walker smiled, extending his hand in greeting.

Marty gripped Walker's hand and gave it a firm shake. "I just did what anyone would have done," he said quietly, not meeting Walker's eyes.

"No, not everyone would have been honest enough to do what you did. A lot of guys would have kept that gun for any number of reasons, none of them good," Walker corrected him.

Marty nodded, still looking down at the table in front of him. "I guess you're right."

"I know I am. Marty, since you were so honest with us, I am going to be completely honest with you. We know where you got the gun," Walker stated.

Gage opened the file folder he had carried with him into the room and laid it on the desk so Marty could see what was inside. Two 4x6 photographs were stapled one above the other to the inside cover of the folder. One showed a gray and black Colt .45 pistol and the other was a close up view of the serial number of the same weapon. On the opposite side of the folder lay a typed paper labeled "Ballistics Report."

"This is the gun you gave me today, Marty," Gage told him pointing to the picture at the top. "And this is the serial number of that gun, which happens to exactly match the serial number of my department issued Colt .45. Now, since serial numbers are unique to each weapon, this has to be my gun. And since I know where I lost my weapon, I also know where you found it."

"I thought you said you lost your memory of Saturday night," Marty protested.

Gage fought to keep a straight face. He hadn't expected the kid to walk into the trap quite so fast.

"First of all, Marty, I didn't say when I lost the gun and second, I didn't say I remembered losing it, only that I know where it happened," Gage retorted, adding, "so how did you know it was Saturday night?"

"I…I…uh…," Marty stammered, his mind racing, trying to find a way out of the corner he just backed himself into.

"Let us help you, Marty. We know you're trying to protect your brother and your cousin…" Gage offered.

"I don't care what happens to Johnny. I hate him; he's the one that talked Tex into being a criminal like him," Marty blurted out. "Tex had a football scholarship to the University of Texas, but he blew out his knee during Liberty's last game of the season and it ended his career. Johnny filled him full of beer and bitterness and kept talking about how easy it would be to steal some money and use it to buy drugs and sell them to make more money. Tex was never good in school, just football, so he didn't think he had any other options and he started running with Johnny."

"How did you end up with them on Saturday?" Gage asked quietly, knowing that the dam had broken and Marty was going to spill everything now.

"They needed a car and Tex volunteered mine. It's a blue '78 Camaro Z28 that I restored myself. I've been working on it since I was fourteen! No way was it going anywhere without me," he boasted.

"I can understand why you feel that way. I have a '70 Chevelle myself," Gage affirmed, adding, "You gotta love a good muscle car, man."

"You can have your muscle cars, guys. Give me a big Dodge Ram truck any day," Walker put in.

"Whatever!" Marty disagreed.

"So, Marty, where's the car now?" Gage asked, bringing the conversation back on point.

"Tex has it. He brought me to school this morning and said he needed to keep the car. Besides, he said someone might recognize it from the other night if I kept it at school, so I let him take it."

"Where are they, Marty?" Gage looked the boy straight in the eye. "I promise you that we will do everything we can to bring them in safe and sound."

"Really? I know Tex hurt you and that girl and I know he has to pay for that, but I just don't want him to get hurt, you know?"

"And we don't want to hurt him either. But, you're right, he has to answer for what he's done and so does Johnny."

"I can tell you where they were this morning, but if they figured out that your gun isn't in the glove compartment anymore, then they probably are either looking for me or they've left town altogether thinking I ratted them out," Mark said.

"Where would they go?" Walker asked.

"Johnny was talking about heading for Mexico. I heard him talking on the phone to someone named Hector about meeting him in Nuevo Laredo."

Gage and Walker were both out of their chairs and moving toward the door before they realized Marty was still seated at the table.

"Well, come on," Walker prodded, as Marty got moving at last. Turning to Gage, he directed him to call the state police and Border Patrol with descriptions of Tex, Johnny and the car as well as their probable route to Mexico. "Then you and Sydney take Marty home."

"But I was part of the robberies, too. Aren't you going to arrest me?" Marty asked, wide-eyed.

"Did you say 'robberies', as in more than one?" It was Walker's turn to be surprised.

"Well, I waited in the car for all of them except the restaurant, but Tex and Johnny robbed a movie theater and two liquor stores that same night," Marty confessed as they all walked back to Gage's desk together.

"Did they shoot anybody in those places?" Gage wanted to know.

"No, the only time a gun went off was when the old man got shot at the restaurant."

"Marty, if I take you home tonight like I promised your mom, can I trust you to turn yourself in tomorrow morning? With any luck, Tex and Johnny will be in custody by then, too, and you can all be arraigned together. It might be your last chance to see Tex for a long while," Gage offered.

"Yes, sir. Just tell me when and where."

"Ah, if only all our collars were so accommodating," Walker said with a sigh.

"Tell me about it," Gage replied with a chuckle.

End Chapter 10.


	11. Chapter 11

Better Late Than Never: Chapter 11

Just as Gage and Sydney were headed out the door with Marty to take him home, Alex arrived carrying Angela in her car seat.

"Hey, it's my girlfriend!" Gage beamed, relieving Alex of her burden and hoisting the carrier up so he could look directly into Angela's smiling face.

Only Alex noticed the change in Sydney's expression at Gage's choice of words.

"What are you doing up so late, sweetie?" Gage inquired of the baby girl.

"She just woke up when I got her out of the car. It's about time for her last bottle of the night anyway. You wouldn't want to feed her while I talk to Walker about your case, would you?" Alex offered.

"Oh, I'd love to, but we need to get Marty home, so…some other time, OK, beautiful?" he said, addressing the infant rather than her mother. He set the carrier on his desk, gathered his keys and his jacket and waved good-bye to Angela and Alex as he followed Sydney and Marty out the door.

-----

"You OK, Syd?" Gage asked as they pulled out of the parking garage in his Chevelle. He had caught her staring out the window with watery eyes again.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" she replied, a little too brightly.

"I don't know. You looked like you were upset just now."

"Well, I'm not, so you can stop asking me if I'm OK. OK?"

"Sure, Syd. Whatever you say," he responded, knowing full well that she was anything but OK, but having the good sense to not push the issue right now. There'd be time to talk about whatever it was later, since they had decided to stay at Marty's house overnight, both to protect him in case Tex and Johnny decided to exact any revenge and to make sure he got to the courthouse on time in the morning.

Sydney managed to shake off her hurt feelings by silently chastising herself for being jealous of a three-month old baby. She was being ridiculous and she knew it, but for almost two years she'd waited for Gage to refer to her as his girlfriend and instead he bestowed the title on Angela. How much more of this was she supposed to take? She made a mental note to call Dr. Ainsley in the morning to see if there was anything he could do for her – like erase her own memories of Saturday night. At least that would put her and Gage back on equal footing, back to square one.

Noticing that all conversation had ceased, Sydney turned to look in the backseat and found Marty sound asleep.

"I'll bet he hasn't slept since this whole thing started," she told Gage.

"You're probably right. I just hope Walker and Trivette can get to Tex and Johnny before too long. I told Marty that if they were brought in tonight that he would probably be able to see his brother at the arraignment tomorrow. I'd like to make that happen for him if it's at all possible," Gage replied.

"You've really taken a liking to this kid, haven't you?"

"I just think it took a lot of guts for him to return my gun, and I don't think he's had too many occasions to think of himself as brave or strong. I think he's idolized Tex his whole life and now he ends up handing his hero over to us. It has to be pretty tough on him," Gage empathized.

"You never cease to amaze me, Francis," Sydney said, admiration evident in her eyes as she looked at her partner.

"What? Why do you say that?" he asked, trying not to sound as pleased as he felt at the notion of her being amazed by him. He failed miserably.

She laughed and he felt his heart squeeze in his chest. He hadn't realized until that moment that he couldn't remember the last time he had heard her laugh and now he knew just how much he had missed hearing it. He had missed it a whole lot.

"Because, partner," Sydney explained, "you are the one who got your skull whacked so hard you forgot the past six months and got your gun stolen to boot and instead of wanting to lock this kid up and throw away the key, you're trying to arrange a reunion between him and the very criminal who did all that to you. You are a good man, Francis Gage." She reached over and laid her hand on his shoulder and before she could stop herself she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

In the instant her lips touched his face, Gage felt a burst of energy slam through him, like a lightning strike. Reflexively, he let up on the gas pedal as he felt his head swim. An image floated to the surface, an image of long dark hair, bare shoulders and a copper colored dress. He closed his eyes for a second and shook his head, trying to stay focused on driving while at the same time praying that this time the image would develop into more than just a fragment…

Sydney saw his reaction to her kiss and her pulse raced. "Gage? What happened? Did you remem…"

"I don't know. Maybe something. It's gone again," he said, dejectedly. He hadn't missed her excitement at the possibility that he had had a break through, but until he knew more about what the image meant, he didn't want to get her hopes up, or his either, for that matter.

As they turned the next corner, Sydney noticed a sign over a small storefront with a bright purple awning that covered the sidewalk in front of it. The sign read "Rhyme's Portrait and Wedding Photography."

"Hey, there's…" Sydney started to say, pointing at the building as they drove past it.

"There's what?" Gage said, looking right at the sign without the slightest hint of recognition.

"An ATM," Sydney covered. "I just realized I don't have any cash on me and I'm kind of hungry. I was thinking we could order pizza once we get Marty home." She hoped the subject of food would be enough to keep Gage from detecting her lie, and it was.

"Oh, well, I've got some money on me. I'll get it this time, unless you want me to go back so you can…"

"No, we need to get Marty home. I can always get it in the morning and then I'll buy breakfast. Sound fair?"

"OK by me. I hate to wake him up, but I think we're here," Gage said as he stopped the car in front of a modest ranch house with a big bay window that cast a warm glow onto the chair swing that hung from the ceiling on the long front porch. A large yellow dog stood on the couch looking out the window wagging its tail.

"Hey, Marty, looks like the welcoming committee is on full alert," Gage said as the three of them exited the car.

"That's Mac, short for Macaroni. He's very friendly, loves to jump up and hug people, so be prepared," Marty explained as he opened the front door and was promptly mauled by his pet. "See what I mean?" he said, as he ruffled Mac's fur and scratched his ears before gently pushing him off. The dog wasted no time in greeting Gage and Sydney in similar fashion and they responded as they had seen Marty do.

"He's adorable!" Sydney gushed, adding, "I love these big, cuddly guys."

"Yeah, I noticed," Marty replied quietly, shooting a sideways glance at Gage and then back to Sydney, who continued scratching Mac's neck as he leaned against her leg.

"Hey, Marty, where's the little boy's room?" Gage asked, having apparently been too distracted by nature's call to catch Marty's comment.

"Down the hall, first door on the right," Marty answered, pointing the way.

"Thanks. Be right back," Gage said, disappearing quickly down the hall.

"I wasn't as asleep as you thought I was," Marty confessed, winking at Sydney, who opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when Marty held up his hand in a gesture that meant, 'Hold that thought.'

"Your secret is safe with me, Ranger Cooke," he promised.

"That's great, but what I was going to say was, where are your parents? It's kind of late; I thought they'd be here waiting for you," she wondered.

Finally having been scratched enough, Mac jumped back up on the couch, and laid down, head up, front paws stretched out, hind legs tucked under him. Sydney thought he looked kind of like the Sphinx.

"My dad works second shift, so he'll be home in a couple hours, and my mom is probably over at the neighbors'. She and Mrs. Reynolds next door are writing a cookbook as a fundraiser for our church and they were going to work on it on Mrs. Reynolds' computer tonight," Marty explained.

"Did somebody say 'cookbook'? That reminds me, I'm starving," announced Gage as he came back into the living room.

"So what else is new? You're always hungry," Sydney declared.

_Well, there's hungry and then there's hungry._ The phrase passed through Gage's conscious mind with the speed of a runaway train, leaving behind only a tingling sensation on his hands and his lips and the faintest taste of strawberries on his tongue.

Sydney's heart skipped a beat as she remembered what happened the last time she had teased Gage about his insatiable appetite. Would this ever stop? Would she ever be able to hold a conversation with him again without constantly slamming into this invisible wall of pain?

"There's a Papa John's pizza place I can call that delivers 'til eleven o'clock," Marty offered, heading for the kitchen to make the call. "What do you like on it?"

"It's up to you, Syd. You know I'll eat just about anything, except anchovies," Gage said, adding, "I don't understand why anyone would put little dead fish on pizza."

"Same here," Marty agreed.

"You guys don't know what you're missing, but since we're sharing, let's just go with pepperoni and mushroom?" Sydney posed.

Gage and Marty both nodded in agreement and Marty called and placed the order.

While they waited for dinner to arrive, Marty showed the Rangers his room. The first thing they noticed was a life-sized photo of Tex in his Liberty High School Eagles football uniform plastered on the wall opposite Marty's bed. Gage and Sydney exchanged a look of sympathy for the boy with the fallen hero.

Marty caught their expressions and sighed. "Yeah, I know, but it reminds me of better days, the ones in the past, and hopefully, the ones to come."

He smiled a courageous little smile that brought a lump to Sydney's throat. She could definitely see why Gage felt the need to protect this kid. His optimism in the face of the current situation was beyond admirable; it was inspiring. If he could find the silver lining in his rather ominous cloud, then surely she could stop feeling sorry for herself long enough to focus on finding a way to help Gage live as normal a life as possible, whether they ever got to be more than partners again or not.

"This is the guest room," Marty said, flipping on the light in the room next to his. "It used to be Tex's, but he moved in with Johnny last year. There's just the one bed, so I guess you guys will have to decide who's sleeping where." He looked from Gage to Sydney and back again, a sly smile curling his lips.

"I'll be on the couch in the living room. Syd can have the bed," Gage stated in a tone that indicated there would be no further discussion of the matter.

Just then, Sydney's cell phone rang.

"Syd," she answered.

"Sydney, it's Walker. Are you at Marty's house yet?"

"Yes, we got here about thirty minutes ago. What did you find at the motel?"

"Nothing really. They had about a two hour head start on us," he responded.

"Had?"

"DPS caught them about twenty miles south of Waco on I-35. They were speeding and a state trooper attempted to pull them over, but Tex tried to outrun him. He misjudged a lane change where there's some road construction down there and ended up in a ditch. Tell Marty he's going to have a lot of work to do on the car, but no one was hurt."

Putting the phone against her shoulder, she turned to Marty and related what Walker told her.

Marty's face crumbled and he started to cry. "I don't care about the car," he managed to say before he found himself swallowed up in one of Gage's trademark hugs. All attempts at bravado abandoned, Marty wrapped his arms around Gage's waist and sobbed into his chest.

"Thanks, Walker. We'll stay with Marty tonight and bring him to the courthouse in the morn…" Sydney said, but Walker interrupted her.

"Sydney, Tex asked if he could talk to Marty and I said he could as long as it was OK with Marty and as long as you two could listen as well. The state troopers have patched him through to the other line on my phone," he told her.

"OK, I can put you on speaker," she replied as she pushed a button on the bottom of the phone. "You still there?"

A mechanical version of Walker's voice crackled over the airwaves. "I'm still here."

"Marty's right here. You can put Tex on now," Sydney said, laying the phone on the guest room's dresser as they heard the clicking of the phone connection.

"Hey, little brother, you OK, man?" Tex said when the clicking stopped. His voice was surprisingly calm and almost soothing.

"Tex! Oh, man, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I…" Marty started to say, wiping his tears with the heels of his hands.

"You got nothing to be sorry about, little brother, do you hear me? You just be sure and tell those Rangers that it was me and Johnny dragged you into all this; it wasn't your idea. You helped them catch us, so they should go real easy on you. That's what's important. Oh, and I'm sorry about your car. We never should have taken it."

"How about if I put it in the garage and you help me fix it when you can, OK?"

"I'm thinkin' that's gonna be an awfully long while, little buddy, and you know how Dad is about junkin' up the garage," Tex said, a smile evident in his tone.

Marty chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe I'll just fix it up and then I'll give you a ride home when you need one. How about that?"

"It's a date, Marty. Hey, can you take care of Mac for me; let him know I miss him?"

"Sure, Tex, and he misses you, too."

"Well, these troopers want to get started on the road back to Dallas, so I gotta go. I guess I'll see you in court tomorrow, huh?"

"See you then, big brother. Bye."

As Sydney picked up her phone, a huge tear rolled down her cheek. She looked at Gage, but he was avoiding her eyes by studying the pattern in the bedspread.

Marty grabbed a tissue from the box on the dresser and blew his nose. Looking at Sydney, he pulled out a second tissue and then glanced at Gage and took a third one from the box. Both Rangers accepted them when Marty offered, trying to avoid eye contact with one another as much as possible.

"Thanks," they both mumbled before blowing their noses in unison, which touched off a fit of hysterical laughter from all three of them.

The doorbell rang announcing the arrival of the pizza and giving everyone something to think about besides the tender exchange between the two brothers.

End Chapter 11.


	12. Chapter 12

Better Later Than Never: Chapter 12

_Rain pelted the windows of the deserted warehouse. It was noon, but the storm clouds outside had overwhelmed the sun, leaving the building's interior dark as night. Without a flashlight, he had to feel his way toward the sound of his partner's cries for help._

"_Gage!" Sydney screamed. "Help me! Gage, where are you?"_

_He opened his mouth to call out to her, to tell her he was almost there, but no sound escaped his lips. She called to him again, but this time her voice seemed to be coming from behind him._

"_Gage, I'm over here! Can you hear me? Gaaaage!"  
Spinning around, he came face to face with his own reflection. Although he could clearly see the panic in his own eyes, the rest of his image was misshapen and distorted. Gone was the storm-darkened warehouse. Now he was in a carnival house of mirrors, surrounded by dozens of silvery panels each filled with a different twisted jumble of his features. Sydney's voice seemed to surround him here. He couldn't tell which way to move so he just plowed ahead, stumbling into the mirrors, bouncing back, trying another angle until he found a doorway that led even deeper into the maze._

"_Gage? Where are you? Why did you leave me here all alone?" Sydney's screams had turned to a plaintive, desperate whisper._

_What if he didn't find her in time? What if he lost her forever? What if she died believing he had abandoned her? _

_Fear lay coiled like a snake in his belly. He tried again to tell her he was with her, that she wasn't alone, that he would find her or die trying, but the snake was slithering up into his chest, crushing all the air out of his lungs. He was drowning in his own terror._

_Gathering all his strength, he inhaled as deeply as the snake would allow and tried one last time to cry out to her._

"Sydney!" Gage yelled and tried to sit up only to find an eighty-pound dog curled up on his chest. Apparently, the couch was Mac's domain and he had chosen not to abdicate it entirely to the human interloper.

"What?! What is it?" Sydney called as she ran barefooted into the living room, her hair mussed and one strap of her tank top dangling off her shoulder.

Gage was just getting his bearings when he saw the panicked expression in Sydney's eyes and tried to reassure her that all was well even before he was completely sure of it himself.

"I'm OK. I was dreaming that I was drowning, or something. I couldn't breathe and I woke up and discovered this heavy animal sleeping on my chest," he said, pointing to Mac, who had jumped off him to greet Sydney when she came barreling into the room. Gage chose not to share the part of the dream that had to do with her, the truly terrifying part that still had him a bit flustered. Or maybe it was how unbelievably sexy she looked at the moment, freshly awakened and totally unguarded, that was so unsettling.

"I'm sorry that I woke you…and scared you," he apologized.

"It's OK, we probably need to get up soon anyway, don't we?" she said, yawning and brushing back her hair as she searched the still darkened room for a clock. Her eyes finally lit on the digital readout on the microwave in the kitchen; 6:14 glowed blue-green.

Mrs. Hooper came down the hallway, flipping on the light and tightening the belt on her robe.

"Is everybody all right in here?" she asked.

"We're fine, ma'am. I'm sorry if I woke you," Gage said, standing up and stretching.

"Don't worry about me. I'm up with the chickens every day. If y'all are ready for breakfast, I'll be happy to start cooking," she offered.

When neither Marty nor his father made an appearance, Mrs. Hooper explained that both of them possessed the ability to "sleep through World War III."

While Mrs. Hooper started cracking eggs and frying bacon, Gage and Sydney got dressed, gathered their overnight things, made the guest room bed and put the blankets and pillows Gage used back in the hallway closet.

"Mmmm, I smell coffee," Sydney observed.

"Help yourself. If it's not too chilly outside, I usually like to have mine out on the porch swing," offered Mrs. Hooper.

Sydney poured some of the steaming brew into two mugs, handed one to Gage and motioned for him to follow her onto the front porch. They sat side by side on the swing, a long bench anchored to the porch ceiling by two huge hooks and chains. Rocking gently, they drank their coffee in silence for a few minutes, while Gage wondered what Sydney wanted to talk to him about.

At last, Sydney asked, "What time is Marty due in court?"

That was it? Oh, well, all in good time, he supposed.

"Alex said he should plan to be there at nine o'clock, so he can meet with the public defender assigned to his case. The arraignment probably won't start until after ten," Gage informed her.

Since Marty was technically a witness for the prosecution, Walker had asked Alex to talk to Marty and his parents and outline the various steps, from Marty being booked and processed to the arraignment and, eventually, the trial. She had called last night and given them all the same details Sydney just asked Gage to repeat. Gage knew his partner had to have something else on her mind.

"So, why did you just ask me a question you already knew the answer to?" Gage inquired.

"I was just trying to figure out whether or not I had time to run an errand this morning, but I don't," she answered without further details.

"Is it something we can do on the way to the courthouse? We can leave a little early if you want."

"No, it's OK. I can do it this afternoon after work," she said, closing the subject by getting off the porch swing and walking to the front door.

Getting to his feet, Gage started to reach for her arm to keep her from going inside, but Mrs. Hooper's voice pierced the screen door with the announcement that breakfast was ready, so he just followed Sydney into the kitchen, all of his questions still unanswered.

-----

After breakfast, Gage, Sydney and Marty got into Gage's car and drove to Ranger headquarters where Marty gave a formal statement before being fingerprinted and photographed. From there, Gage accompanied him to the courthouse where he met his assigned attorney and his parents, who had come in their own car.

Sydney had begged off of going to court since she wasn't essential to the morning's proceedings, telling Gage that the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to accomplish her errand sooner rather than later.

"So, partner, are you going to tell me what's so important that it can't wait 'til after work?" he had asked her when they parted ways.

"Not yet, but if you want to come over for dinner tonight, maybe I'll tell you then," she had replied, giving nothing away.

They had agreed that Gage would go to her place directly after work and they'd decide then whether to cook or eat out. It was a familiar pattern, one that dated back almost to the very beginning of their partnership. Sydney knew how to cook and enjoyed doing it, so her kitchen had more of the essential equipment than his did. Gage had one dish in his kitchen repertoire: toast. So, more often than not, when they went to Sydney's place, they had options and when they went to his, they ate out.

While Marty and his parents met with his attorney in an empty conference room on the first floor, Gage walked up the steps to the second floor and waited outside the courtroom. When he got there, he called Walker to check on the status of Tex and Johnny.

"Trivette and I picked them up from county jail a while ago. We should be there any minute," Walker informed him.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before Walker and Trivette came walking down the courthouse hallway escorting Tex and Johnny, both of whom were wearing handcuffs, orange jumpsuits and hang dog expressions.

"You two can take a seat right here," Walker told the prisoners, pointing to one of the benches that lined the long hallway. Both men sat without taking their eyes off the tall, blond Ranger who appeared to be equally interested in them.

At last, Tex spoke. "Ranger Walker told me you went out of your way to help Marty with all this. I just wanted to say I'm obliged."

"Marty's a good kid, Tex. He did what he did because he didn't want you to get hurt. He figured you'd be safer in jail than on the run," Gage told him.

"All things considered, he's done a better job of looking out for me than I did looking out for him," Tex admitted.

"You won't get any argument from me on that one," Gage replied.

Johnny uttered a disgusted "Hmph", which Tex answered by shoving his shoulder into Johnny's chest and toppling him over backwards.

"Nobody asked you, Johnny," Tex seethed as Trivette helped the fallen prisoner to his feet.

"How about you just stand over here by me for a while?" Trivette suggested, walking Johnny out of harm's way.

Just then, a bright, musical 'ding' announced the arrival of one of the two elevators at the end of the hallway. When the doors opened, Marty, his lawyer and his parents got out.

"Tex!" Marty shouted when he spotted his brother.

"Hey little brother," Tex greeted him as he stood up and was nearly bowled over by Marty's enthusiastic hug. "Whoa, man, take it easy. It's good to see you, too."

A minute later, Mr. and Mrs. Hooper had also embraced their oldest son, after which they turned to Johnny.

"Johnny," Mrs. Hooper nodded toward her nephew.

"Aunt Vi, Uncle Mike," Johnny nodded back.

"I don't hate you, Johnny. I'm just so awfully disappointed. I'm glad my sister didn't live to see this day," Mrs. Hooper said, reaching out and squeezing his arm before turning back to her own boys.

The next time the elevator doors opened, Marty saw a whole carload of familiar faces.

"Mark? Juliet? Coach Davis? What are you all doing here?" Marty wondered. To his amazement, at least a dozen of his fellow Liberty High students and several members of Liberty football teams, past and present, were exiting the other elevator and filling the hallway.

Juliet's father, Coach Donald Davis, was the first to speak.

"We came to offer our support for you and your brother," he said. Turning to Tex, he put a hand on his shoulder and said, "You'll always be one of my boys, Tex; once an Eagle, always an Eagle. I just wish you'd come to me for help, son, instead of getting mixed up in all this."

Tex hung his head as he whispered harshly, "I did some awful things, Coach, awful…"

"And now you're here to do what's right, just like Marty did. No one is beyond the reach of God's grace, Tex, not even you," Coach Davis assured him.

Unable to speak, Tex just nodded as the coach sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders.

"How you holding up, man?" Mark asked Marty.

"I'm fine, really. My lawyer says he doubts I'll have any jail time, but I'll probably be on probation 'til I'm an old man, thirty at least," Marty answered.

Across the hall, Juliet approached Gage with open arms and wrapped him in a warm embrace.

"Thank you for calling me to let me know about the arraignment today. I could have easily brought the whole school with me. I don't think Marty has any idea how many people actually like him; I know he's always thought of himself as a loner," she said.

"Hey, remember, not a word about who told you, right?" Gage reminded her, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"No, Ranger Gage, your secret identity as a big-hearted softy is safe with me, although I'm sure your girlfriend has unmasked your sensitive alter ego at least once or twice by now."

"My girlfriend?" Gage queried, completely clueless.

"Ranger Cooke, your partner. You two are still together, aren't you?" Juliet asked innocently, adding, "I mean I know it's only been since Saturday night, but…"

Understanding dawned as the mention of Saturday night and the look of confused anguish she saw in Gage's eyes finally coalesced in Juliet's mind.

Her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, my goodness! Your memory loss! You didn't know. I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking…"

Gage cut her off. "Juliet, Juliet, it's OK. You couldn't have known what I remembered and what I didn't. Please don't worry about this. I'm fine. Everything is going to be fine," he assured her, giving her a quick hug before he said, "Tell Marty to hang in there. I have to go."

On his way down the hall, he saw Alex heading for the courtroom.

"Where are you going? We're due in court in two minutes!" she called out as he strode past her on the way to the stairs.

He slowed down long enough to turn around and say, "You don't really need me today, Alex, but I know someone else who does."

-----

Sydney parked in front of the building with the bright purple awning a few minutes before ten. As she got out and approached the door, she saw that the photography studio's hours were 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Just in case, she tried the door and found it open. A bell overhead jingled as she stepped inside.

A familiar baritone called from behind the counter, "I'm not actually open yet. Sign says ten o'clock."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Rhyme. The door was unlocked, so I…" Sydney started to explain, but Rhyme's grinning countenance popped up almost directly in front of her, startling her into silence.

"Ms. Cooke! How nice to see you again," Rhyme exclaimed, hurrying out from behind the counter and wrapping her in a chaste hug.

Sydney hadn't expected such a warm welcome.

"I came to pick up the picture from Saturday night at the governor's mansion. Is it ready?" she asked.

By way of an answer, Rhyme took her by the shoulders and turned her ninety degrees to her left. There, in front of her, was a wall-sized portrait of Gage and her in each others' arms, eyes closed, kissing.

Suddenly she had lost the ability to breathe. Her hand went to her chest to try to force out the air locked in her lungs, but to no avail. Her head spun and had Rhyme not caught her she would have swooned on the spot.

"Ms. Cooke! Heavens, dear, are you all right?" Rhyme was saying as he helped her to an antique chair with purple velvet cushions.

His voice barely registered, however, as she couldn't focus on anything but the portrait, the defining moment of her happiness, preserved forever on canvas…

"But lost forever to him…" Sydney mumbled to herself, unaware that she had said the words aloud.

"Lost forever? Ms. Cooke? What is wrong?" Rhyme's voice finally cut through the haze of sadness enveloping her brain and he saw her eyes register her awareness of his presence. "Oh, look who's back. Now, tell me what this is all about or I will think you hate your gift."

"My gift? You were going to give this to me?" she uttered incredulously.

"Well, to you and your Ranger Gage, actually…as a wedding present."

He might as well have stabbed Sydney in the heart, but he continued, oblivious to the invisible knife he was twisting in her chest.

"I know I'm a bit ahead of myself, but when I developed the photograph I knew I had captured something very special. Once in a blue moon, the photo gods grant this humble servant such a prize and when they do I try not to waste it on a mere 8x10 glossy. And, since I have little doubt that there will be nuptials, probably sooner rather than later, I went ahead and…."

"No," she said so softly he almost didn't hear her.

"Pardon?"

"No, Mr. Rhyme, there will not be nuptials, at least not in the foreseeable future," she stated flatly. She forced herself to remember that this kind man had no idea that the beautiful romantic dream he captured on film that night had turned into a raging nightmare. She knew she should thank him for going to the trouble and probably considerable expense of creating the portrait, which was by any standard a gorgeous work of art, but instead she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

-----

Gage was amazed at his own stupidity. He should have known, should have guessed. What else could it have been?

The pieces were starting to fall into place – Sydney's comment about the actress; the ghostly smell of her shampoo; the vision of long, dark hair and the coppery velvet dress; and the ever-present look of disappointment in her eyes. When he placed it all within the framework of Juliet's revelation about Saturday night, he could almost see the whole picture, almost touch the truth.

He had to find Sydney, but first he needed time to think, to figure out which pieces mattered and which ones didn't. He drove around wracking his brain, trying to remember everything Sydney had said and done since he woke up in the hospital, all the faraway looks, the tearful silences, and most heart-breaking of all, her apology for making him feel guilty for something he couldn't control.

"Oh, Syd, I can't even imagine the pain you must be in," he whispered. "I don't care about anything else, I just don't want you to hurt anymore."

In that moment, he realized that the lost memories of Saturday night were just that – memories. Whatever happened between them that night, as wonderful as it must have been, wasn't important; that was the past. The future was what mattered and he didn't need to remember the last six months to know that his future was Sydney. He had known that ever since he'd lost his hearing and she had been so caring, so constant, so unfailing in her support of him. Yes, he had fallen in love with her long before last Saturday night. And yet it had taken him six months to do anything about it? He really was a total idiot and he wouldn't have blamed Sydney if she wanted to just forget him altogether, but as he dialed her number and listened to it ring, he prayed that she still loved him enough to give him one more day to make things right.

End Chapter 12.


	13. Chapter 13

Better Late Than Never: Chapter 13

"There, there, Ms. Cooke," Rhyme soothed as he pulled her to her feet and hugged her close. He was taller than Gage, probably six foot four at least, which meant he had to stoop a bit to reach around her heaving shoulders. Thankfully, he placed himself between her and the portrait, so that when she finally gathered herself enough to look up at him, all she could see were the receding line of his white-gray hair and his merry blue eyes looking down at her through the rimless glasses perched on his rather significant nose.

Pulling a silk handkerchief from his pants pocket, he dabbed at her eyes and then held it in front of her nose as if she were a child and said, "Blow."

Too drained to argue, she did as she was told and he handled it with great aplomb, handing her the cloth for any future outbursts.

"Let's step into my office," he suggested and led her to a small room just off the main work area of the studio. He directed her to a high-backed leather chair across from his antique mahogany desk. Before he took his own chair, however, he excused himself, went to the front door, locked it and made sure the 'Closed' sign was in place.

Sydney felt like God's own fool for having come so unglued at the sight of the portrait, and in front of a near stranger, to boot. And, of course, now that she'd cried all over him and sullied his silk hankie, she would have to tell him the whole story. She owed him that much. So, when he came back into the office, having magically produced two cups of steaming herbal tea while he was gone, she related the entire miserable tale.

-----

"Well, I must say, my dear, that is one of the most amazing stories I have ever heard and it certainly explains your reaction to the portrait. But the question now is what do you intend to do about it?" Rhyme posed, looking over his glasses at her.

It took Sydney a moment to realize that his question was not rhetorical; he was waiting for an answer.

"I have no idea. The doctors are fairly sure he won't ever remember, but I would swear he had a flash of something, a memory, a feeling, something, yesterday," she replied.

"Did something happen to trigger the whatever-it-was?" he inquired.

"Well, I had just kissed him on the cheek and…" she started, but he interrupted her.

"So, an intimate gesture, then? Any other inklings that you know of?" he pressed.

"No, nothing that I know of."

"Which is not to say that it hasn't happened; only that he hasn't told you if it did. So, let's assume for the moment that it wasn't an isolated incident. That would seem to indicate that all is not lost, Ms. Cooke."

"Please, you now know more about my life than most people I know, call me Sydney."

"Very well, Sydney, let me ask you a question. What perfume were you wearing Saturday night?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Some of our most powerful recollections are based on smells, Sydney. It's called a sense memory. When we experience something, we do it with all of our senses, the strongest of which in terms of memory is smell. Think about every holiday from your childhood and what comes to mind first?"

"The smell of my grandmother's house! The food, the Christmas tree, the fireplace…"

"Exactly. Now, what perfume were you wearing Saturday night?"

"Uh, um, I don't remem…wait, I wasn't wearing any," she sighed.

"Oh, but you were. You smelled positively delicious, as I recall," Rhyme corrected her.

"It wasn't perfume, though. It was a body spray, I think. Warm vanilla something-or-other, from one of those bath stores in the mall." Was it really possible that a five-dollar bottle of body spray could be the key to unlocking Gage's memory?

"Why, Sydney, you vixen, you were out to get your man that night, weren't you?"

"Huh?"

"So you didn't know that vanilla is an aphrodisiac? Why do you think women in the '50's used to put vanilla extract behind their ears, so they could smell like good cooks?"

"I…uh…no, I didn't know that."

"Well, now you do and we haven't a moment to lose. There's one of those bath places in the next strip mall on this street. Go now and buy a bottle of that spray and bring it back here," Rhyme directed. As he stood up and ushered her toward the door, he continued to lay out his plan. "If we can connect your scent with that portrait, I think it might just trigger a breakthrough."

Sydney just stared at him, a look of utter disbelief on her face.

"Well, it's worth a try, isn't it? Or would you rather just give up on this?" he asked, pointing to the portrait, but meaning the love that was revealed in it.

"No, of course not. I'm going. I'll be back as soon as I can. But, how are you going to get him here?" she wondered.

"I'm not, you are. I can't be expected to do everything, now can I?" And with that, he shoved her out the door and onto the sidewalk.

-----

She was on her way back to Rhyme's studio with her purchase when her cell phone rang.

"Syd," she answered.

"Where are you?" Gage demanded.

"Well, hello to you, too, Gage," she snapped back at him.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I've been trying to call you for over an hour. Didn't you hear your phone ringing?" he asked. Sydney detected a hint of desperation in his voice.

"No, I accidentally left it in the car while I was at…my errand," she informed him.

"Sydney we need to talk. Now. Can I come over to your place?" Gage pleaded, making no attempt to be subtle.

"I'm not home and in fact, I was just going to call you. I'm on Lemon Avenue a few blocks from Marty's house and my car won't start," she improvised, as she pulled alongside the curb around the corner from Rhyme's studio. "Is there any way you can come and pick me up?"

"Don't move. I'll be right there," he promised and promptly hung up.

Sydney got out of the car and walked around the corner to deliver the vanilla-scented spray to Rhyme. When she reached the front of the studio, she nearly dropped the bag she was carrying. Right smack in the center of the front window was the portrait of her and Gage.

The bell rang when she opened the studio door, summoning Rhyme from his office.

"Oh, good, you're back. Any luck?" he posed.

"Yes, I found the vanilla spray and I spoke to Gage and told him I was having car trouble. He said he's on his way," she said, handing him the red-and-white striped bag.

"Wonderful! Now, you keep a look out for his car and when you see it, tell me immediately," he instructed.

"What exactly are you going to do?" she inquired.

"Well, when he drives by, I'm betting he won't be able to miss the portrait, and I further suspect he will not be able to pass it up without a closer inspection. By the time he is out of his car, I will have sprayed enough of this stuff into the air in here to practically knock him over and voila!"

"Just like that? Voila!" Skepticism dripped from her words.

"That picture, your scent and his desperate desire to remember should be all it takes, my dear," he assured her.

"Yeah, it's the 'should' part that worries me," she replied, suddenly realizing there was one part of the plan that she didn't like one bit.

"I can't be the one watching for his car. I don't want to be here when he gets here," Sydney informed her co-conspirator.

"Well, where do you want to be?"

"If this doesn't work, I won't be able to face him. No matter how hard I try to hide it, he'll see the disappointment written all over my face and it will kill him," Sydney explained.

"And if it does work?"

"Maybe there's someplace I could hide – near the back entrance, or maybe around the corner by my car – where I could see him, but he couldn't see me?" Sydney couldn't believe her own ears; she felt like she was back in junior high, spying on Jimmy Wilkins, her eighth-grade crush.

In the end, she opted to wait around the corner by her car. From that vantage point, she could see both the street he'd be driving down and the front of the studio itself. A few minutes later, she poked her head around the corner and caught a glimpse of the familiar orange and black Chevelle driving slowly up the block.

Using her cell phone, which was already connected to Rhyme's phone in the studio, she told Rhyme, "Here we go. He's coming up the street."

"Got it. I see the car," Rhyme answered and pumped three sprays of Warm Vanilla Sugar body spray in front of a small fan located just below the countertop, but angled to direct the scent toward the front door. He sat the bottle on the shelf under the counter, hid behind the doorway into the main work room, and crossed the fingers of both hands as he heard the car come to a screeching halt.

-----

As he hit the brakes, Gage gripped the steering wheel so hard he thought it might actually snap off in his hands. He blinked twice and when the image in the store window didn't change or disappear, he was left with no choice but to believe it was real.

He abandoned the car in the middle of the street and ran up to the window, his heart pounding, his blood roaring in his ears.

It had been a memory after all – the copper-colored velvet dress, the bare shoulders, the long, dark hair – Sydney's hair -- that smelled like flowers. And there, too, were his arms holding her, his hands tingling at the feel of that soft fabric stretched over her hard, muscular body and his mouth pressed against hers in the sweetest of strawberry-flavored kisses.

A loud honking interrupted his reverie and he ran back to his car just long enough to pull it over to the curb and shut off the engine, before running back to the studio. As he yanked open the door, he heard bells ringing and he was surrounded by the most delectable fragrance he'd ever encountered.

He closed his eyes and drank in the tantalizing aroma that was, as far as he knew, uniquely Sydney. Suddenly, he wasn't in the studio anymore; he was back on the ballroom floor at the governor's mansion, dancing with Sydney and singing their song to her.

"…We'll get lost on this dance floor, spinning around…and around and around and around…" he sang softly, his eyes still closed, tears of joy and relief running down his cheeks.

Devon Rhyme waited for Gage to open his eyes before he spoke, but Gage was still startled when the photographer said, "It's good to see you again, Ranger Gage."

"Mr. Rhyme!" Gage exclaimed. Recognition brought with it such elation that Gage swept the older man into a bear hug. "You have no idea how good it is to see you, sir. No idea at all."

"Oh, I believe I get the picture…no pun intended," Rhyme replied.

"Yeah, speaking of pictures, where did this come from? I mean, when did you…how did it…" Gage stammered before finally settling on, "Why is our picture so huge?"

"Because to have printed it any smaller would not have done it justice. And besides, it's not as if it's life-sized," he corrected, adding "It's more like half that," as if that fact illustrated some great restraint on his part not to overdo it. "You and your lady fair were, without a doubt, the most stunning couple at that party and I dare say that I was fortunate enough to capture something quite special when the shutter snapped. Photographs like this one don't come along every day, Ranger Gage, and for that matter, neither do women like Ranger Cooke."

"Sydney! Her car broke down! I'm supposed to be meeting her near here somewhere. Oh, geez, I got so caught up…" his voice trailed off as he pulled out his cell phone and speed dialed Sydney.

"Hey, Syd, I got hung up, but I'm on Lemon now. Where are you?" he rattled off when she answered.

"Actually, I'm good," she said, leaning against her car and watching the door of Rhyme's place. "When I tried the car a minute ago, it started right up. I can't imagine what could have happened, but I'm on my way back to work now. I was just about to call you and tell you I didn't need a ride after all. Are you still coming over for dinner?"

"Yes, and don't cook. I'll pick something up on the way," he said, an idea already starting to blossom in his brain.

"Hey, Gage, are you feeling all right? Any more strange sensations like last night?"

"No, Syd, why do you ask?" he lied as casually as he could. He was hatching a plan that, unfortunately, required keeping her in the dark for just a little longer. Something told him that when all was said and done, she would probably forgive him.

"No reason. I just know how much you want to remember, that's all," she sighed, climbing into her car and fastening her seat belt. "Well, see you later. Bye." It hadn't worked after all. She knew it was a long shot, at best, but she had let her hopes run free and now it would be hard to rein them in again. She snapped the phone shut, pulled away from the curb and watched the road blur behind a veil of tears.

Gage hated letting her think the worst, but he was beginning to think that maybe he'd been lured to this very spot by a false alarm about Sydney's car, so a little tit-for-tat didn't seem all that inappropriate. Anyway, he didn't have time to fret about it now. He had a lot to do before dinnertime, and maybe Mr. Rhyme could help.

"Mr. Rhyme, I have two questions. First, what can you tell me about the jeweler across the street? And second, where can I rent a tux on really short notice?"

End Chapter 13.


	14. Chapter 14

Better Late Than Never: Chapter 14

By the time Sydney returned to Ranger headquarters, she had pulled herself together enough to maintain the illusion that her world wasn't slowly unraveling. She had thought about taking the rest of the day off so she could just crawl into bed, curl up into a ball and wallow in her disappointment, but that would only lead to questions she didn't want to have to answer, not just from Walker and Gage, but from herself.

Sitting at her desk, she looked like the picture of efficiency and dedication, toiling away at the paperwork that the Golden Moon incident had generated. For the umpteenth time, she wrote last Saturday's date at the top of one page followed by today's date and realized that what felt like a lifetime was only four squares on the calendar.

Was it really only four days ago that she had felt like a giddy teenager, overjoyed to learn that Gage's flirtations were rooted in a deep, passionate love for her? Could it really have been less than a week since she had stopped hiding her own feelings and finally told him that he was all she'd ever wanted, all she could ever hope for? And how long, really, had all that emotion been allowed to flourish – a few hours? One dance, a few soul-stirring kisses and it was back to living the lie of 'we're just friends and I'm really OK with that'? It was almost as though the universe had played some kind of cruel joke on them.

Self-pity was quickly morphing into anger and she knew she had to nip that in the bud or she might end up directing that anger at Gage, effectively destroying the friendship that had been the basis for everything that came after. She silently promised herself she would do whatever it took to not let him disappear completely from her life. So, she slowly gathered up all the feelings she would no longer have any use for – anger, disappointment, love, happiness -- and tried to pack them all away in the same corner of her heart where they had been stored for so long, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't quite make them fit. The love had grown too big.

-----

Gage felt like a kid in a candy store, a rich kid. Armed with a credit card that he actually remembered applying for last month for this very purpose, he had come to Cassell's Fine Jewelry looking for just the right engagement ring.

Mr. Rhyme had not only highly recommended the neighboring store, but had also introduced Gage to the owner, Gerald Cassell, a wiry gentleman with dark eyes, dark curly hair flecked with silver, and skin the color of cocoa.

"Gerry will take very good care of you, Ranger Gage. He's the best in the business," Rhyme promised, nodding toward his friend. The two men had opened their businesses across the street from one another the very same month more than twenty years ago and had been friends ever since, often referring one another to couples in search of their particular services.

"Thank you for everything, Mr. Rhyme," Gage said, shaking the photographer's hand one more time.

"My pleasure, Ranger Gage, and don't forget to let me know as soon as you and Sydney set a date, so I can get you on my calendar," Rhyme called over his shoulder on his way out of the shop.

"Sure thing. Good bye," Gage answered.

"Well, Ranger Gage," the jeweler began, "what were you looking for today, an engagement ring, a wedding set, or both?"

"I'm sure she'd like to help pick out the wedding set, so just the engagement ring for today," he replied.

"Right this way," Cassell directed as he lead Gage around two large cases filled with diamond rings of every size, shape and description. "Do you have any idea what style or shape you are looking for?"

"I know she would want something elegant, but simple and kind of unique at the same time. Does that narrow it down at all?"

"I think I have just the thing," Cassell offered, reaching into the case in front of him and choosing a half-carat round solitaire set in yellow gold and laying it on a black velvet cloth on the counter.

"Wow, that is really beautiful," Gage agreed, picking the ring up to examine it more closely.

"I sense a 'but' coming."

"Well, like I said, it's a gorgeous ring, but it looks like almost every other engagement ring I've ever seen. I like the round stone and the size is right, but do you maybe have something with smaller stones on the side?"

"Ah, I understand," Cassell said, replacing the solitaire in the case and choosing another to display on the velvet cloth. "Now this one has the round stone, but it's flanked by two baguettes, which adds to the diamond presence. However, what is truly unique about this ring is the color of the band. It's rose gold."

As Gage picked up the ring, he saw that the band looked more like pale copper than gold. The unique color cast the faintest suggestion of a warm pink glow on the baguettes snuggled next to the dazzling white half-carat solitaire. The effect was, in a word, stunning.

"Mr. Cassell, I think we have a winner," he said, handing over his credit card.

-----

With regard to the tuxedo, Mr. Rhyme had been Gage's champion once again, having called in a favor with another long-time business associate and arranging a fitting for "as soon as you can get there." On the way to the formal wear shop, it occurred to Gage that he should probably let Dr. Ainsley know what had happened.

To say the least, Dr. Ainsley was surprised when Gage called him to tell him the broken playback switch in his head was fixed.

"All of it? Sights, smells, details -- for the whole six months?" the doctor had quizzed him after Gage told him the story of the portrait and the vanilla spray. Mr. Rhyme had spilled the proverbial beans once Gage's head stopped spinning enough for him to think to ask how he'd known what scent to use.

"Yeah, Doc, it's all in there -- the Rangers we lost to Emil Lavocat and his gang, Walker's daughter, Angela, being delivered by emergency C-section, even me and Ranger Cooke doing stunt work on a vampire movie that was a cover for a drug smuggling operation."

"Can you come to the hospital right away? I'd like to run some tests..."

"I know this is important and it's not that I don't want to understand what happened myself, but I have some unbreakable plans for this evening, so could we please do this first thing tomorrow?"

"All right, but I want you in my office at the hospital at 8 a.m. sharp. Agreed?"

"Sure thing, Doc," Gage confirmed. "I'll be there first thing tomorrow to have my head examined." Catching the joke in what he just said, Gage told Dr. Ainsley, "Not that I don't need that pretty much a daily basis, amnesia or no amnesia."

"Just be here tomorrow," Dr. Ainsley signed off, chuckling.

-----

A few minutes before 4 p.m., Alex walked into Ranger headquarters and Sydney's stiff upper lip act got put to the test immediately.

"Have you seen Gage today?" Alex asked eagerly without so much as a 'hello'.

"Not since this morning when we brought Marty here. Why?" Sydney answered, concerned about the urgency in Alex's voice. Could something have happened to Gage since she had last spoken with him?

"He took off before court this morning and his only explanation was that someone else needed him more than I did. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Alex whispered, trying not to attract the attention of Walker or Trivette who had just walked into the room.

"No, I wouldn't," Sydney replied just as quietly. She genuinely had no idea how to interpret Gage's comment, but Alex obviously thought he was referring to her. "Take a walk to the ladies' room with me."

Once inside the rest room, Sydney told Alex about the failed plan at Rhyme's studio.

"I don't know what feels worse, the fact that it didn't work or the fact that I was desperate enough to do something so juvenile and idiotic," Sydney confessed dry-eyed. She had cried enough. Now it was time to move on.

"Sydney, I don't know what happened to send Gage off in such a hurry, but the fact is he was running _to you_. I'm sure of it. He's the one who sounded desperate, like finding you was the most important thing in the world. It was certainly more important that being in that courtroom when Marty, Tex and Johnny were arraigned."

"How did all that turn out, by the way?" Sydney inquired, deliberately changing the subject.

"Marty was charged with accessory to armed robbery and released into his parents' custody, but the judge denied bail for both Tex and Johnny, since their charges were more severe, ranging from armed robbery to rape. And then, of course, Tex was also charged with the assault on Gage," Alex recounted.

"Do you think Marty will get any jail time?"

"I doubt it. His cooperation will go a long way toward convincing the judge that he never had any real criminal intent, so the worst he's likely to get is a long probation, maybe up to five years."

"Gage will be relieved to hear that. Have you told him yet?"

"No, I haven't talked to him since he pulled his white knight act this morning, remember? Anyway, I thought maybe you'd like to call him and give him the good news."

"I can do that. I was going to call him shortly anyway to let him know I was on my way home. He's coming over for dinner tonight." Sydney's voice was flat, almost emotionless.

"You sound like you'd rather have your teeth drilled," Alex said, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders as she continued. "Sydney, I know you think today was a setback, but you have to remember that regardless of the amnesia, he's still Gage. He hasn't had a lobotomy, just lost a few months' worth of memories. And unless I am seriously mistaken he's been in love with you since before he lost his hearing, which he does remember. Give him time to adjust to the gap in his memory and, believe me, he won't be able to deny those feelings much longer."

"Do you really think so?" Sydney asked, wanting desperately to believe Alex, to grasp onto the thin lifeline of hope her words offered. But at the same time she was afraid to think that far ahead. She would have to scrape her heart off her sleeve sooner or later, so she might as well start now, right?

"Yes, I really think so. Oh, honey, you just keep being yourself -- the exciting spitfire that he fell in love with; not the moping sad sack you've been since he got hurt -- and he won't be able to resist you," Alex advised.

"OK, no more moping. Got it," she agreed, offering a small salute to her friend, which made both women chuckle as they left the ladies' room.

-----

All the pieces were nearly in place; Gage only had one more stop to make before going to Sydney's house. She had called him a little while ago to let him know how the arraignment had turned out and to say that she was on her way home from work. After thanking her for the update on Marty, he had surprised her with an unusual request.

"You want me to wear my dress from Saturday night? Why?" she had asked, wondering if she had heard him right.

He couldn't tell if he heard excitement in her voice – or panic.

"Well, I thought maybe if we tried to recreate that night as much as possible that I might remember something. That little flash that happened in the car last night I think had something to do with that party at the governor's mansion. I know this sounds weird, Syd, but you did say you'd give anything for me to remember." He hesitated, debating how hard to push and then added, "But if it will make you uncomfortable…"

"No, no, it's OK. Sure. I'll wear the dress. How far should I go? Hair? Shoes? How much time do I have?"

"Hair, yes, shoes, no. And it'll take me about an hour to get there. Will that be all right?"

"Yeah, perfect. I'll see you then," she concluded, but then she had an after thought. "Hey, Gage?"

He was about to hang up, but answered, "Yeah, Syd?"

"Does this mean you are going to wear a tux?"

"Well, if I didn't that would sort of defeat the purpose, wouldn't it? I'll see you in an hour. And, by the way, Syd, thanks for doing this. You're the best." He couldn't have suppressed the happiness in his voice even if he had tried, so he didn't bother.

"You're welcome and you're pretty great yourself. See you soon," Sydney replied, unable to keep the excitement from her own voice. Nobody filled out a tux quite like Francis Gage.

She decided that Alex was right. No more doom and gloom. His idea wasn't any crazier than the scheme she and Rhyme had hatched. In fact, even if it didn't trigger a return of his old memories, it still might be the first step toward making new ones.

-----

When Gage pulled into the parking lot at the Golden Moon, he was relieved to see several cars there. He had realized only moments before that, with Mr. Chen still recovering from his injury, the restaurant might be closed, which would have sent his plan for the evening into a tailspin.

Stepping inside, he saw a middle-aged Asian woman who looked like an older version of Mai Lee behind the counter. Beside her was a young Asian man with long black hair pulled back in a neat ponytail.

"May we help you?'" the young man offered, walking out from behind the counter, menu in hand.

"I'd actually like to order some food to go if I could," Gage replied, reaching into his jacket pocket for his wallet and also finding the small velvet box containing the rose gold ring. He smiled to himself as he started to silently rehearse his proposal speech one more time, but he was brought back to reality by Xiang Pei's request for his order.

"Oh, right, uh, I need one order of moo shoo pork, one order of spicy beef and broccoli and four egg rolls," he rattled off.

"Steamed or fried rice?" Xiang inquired.

"Steamed, always steamed," a female voice answered before Gage could speak.

He whirled around to see Mai Lee standing there, smiling in spite of the crack still evident in her lower lip and the purplish-green bruise still showing on her cheek.

"Mai Lee!" he managed to say before the lump closed his throat and all he could do was hug her to him. Swallowing hard, he continued softly. "I am so sorry that I didn't get here in time to keep this from happening to you."

"Please don't be sorry," Mai Lee said as she stepped out of his embrace and held both his hands. "You probably saved my life. If you hadn't called for help when you did, those men might have killed me instead of running from the sirens. I am sorry that you were hurt trying to help me and my uncle."

"No, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, but there is a favor I would like to ask. It's going to sound pretty strange…"

"Ranger Gage, there is nothing you could ask that I would not try to do for you. How can I help?"

Reaching into his pocket, Gage retrieved the ring box and pried it open. "Can you hide this in an egg roll without it looking like anything is different?"

"Of course, but might I suggest a fortune cookie instead? It's less messy," Mai Lee offered.

"I thought about that, but that's sort of a cliché, if you know what I mean; it's been done. Besides, Sydney and I have this little ritual that we do with our egg rolls. We clink them together and make a toast before we break them in half and eat them. It's hokey, I know, but we did it once a long time ago for some reason I don't even remember and we've done it every time ever since."

"Say no more, Ranger Gage, and follow me," Mai Lee said, chuckling to herself as she led him into the kitchen. Reaching into a small refrigerator under the counter, she pulled out a pan of uncooked egg rolls and placed it on the counter near two woks filled with sizzling peanut oil. Mai Lee removed four egg rolls for Gage's order, placed them on a dinner plate and then replaced the pan in the fridge. She then chose one from the plate and carefully unrolled one end, revealing the filling inside. Plucking the ring from the box as Gage held it, she stuffed it inside the shredded vegetables and then daintily rolled the wrapper shut again. When she was finished, there was no sign that the appetizer had been disturbed in any way.

"That's fantastic! So, now you just cook it like any other egg roll?" Gage wondered.

"Yes, like this," she replied and demonstrated by cooking it in the hot oil while he watched. "We will put this one in a separate bag, so you can make sure she gets the right one."

"Great. I can't thank you enough, Mai Lee."

"No thanks are necessary, Ranger Gage. You and the other Rangers have been so good to us. By the way, Ranger Walker called this afternoon to tell us that the men who robbed us and hurt you have been captured, but I am sure you already knew that," she told him as they walked back to the dining room.

As they reached the front counter, Gage replied, "Yes, I did, but I'm glad he let you know that they can't hurt you or anyone else anymore." Giving her one last little hug, Gage continued. "Now I just have to pay for my order and practice my proposal speech one more time on the way to Sydney's house."

"Your money is no good here, not today anyway," Mai Lee insisted. "Dinner is on us and we wish you good luck with your proposal, although I doubt that you will need it."

"I'll take all the good luck I can get and thanks again. Bye." Taking the food bags from the counter, Gage double checked to make sure the world's most expensive egg roll was tucked safely inside, and then headed for his car.

End Chapter 14.


	15. Chapter 15

Better Late Than Never: Chapter 15

Sydney looked at the clock on the bedside table. With five minutes to go before Gage's estimated arrival time, she made one final adjustment to the jeweled comb that held her hair in place and stood back to assess her reflection in the dresser mirror.

Except for the shoes, which she swore she would never wear again after Saturday night, she had on the exact same ensemble that she wore to the governor's mansion – the copper velvet dress, the hair comb, even the same eye shadow and lipstick and, of course, the same vanilla body spray. Rather than wear different shoes, she had decided to remain barefoot and had painted her toenails a deep shimmering copper that matched some of the sequins on the dress.

"Whatever magic this dress worked once, please let it work twice," she whispered, eyes closed, just as the doorbell rang.

-----

Gage arrived almost five minutes early, which gave him a minute or two to just sit in the car and stroke his nerves. He took a few deep breaths and debated whether or not to wear the tux jacket, finally opting to toss it into the back seat. At last, he gathered up the bags of Chinese food from the passenger seat and made his way up the front walk on quivery legs.

"Here goes…everything," he whispered to himself as he mounted the front steps and rang the doorbell. He tugged at his collar, hoping to loosen the bow tie a tad, just as Sydney opened the door.

"I think this is exactly where I came in the first time," she said, smiling.

One look at her and all his carefully laid plans and well-rehearsed speeches suddenly seemed so unimportant, so ridiculously unnecessary. What was it he had thought to himself when he'd seen her for the first time in that dress? Something about how he'd rather walk through all the fires of hell than go on pretending he was 'just friends' with her, because, after all, he wasn't stupid. Yeah, that was it.

The food containers he was carrying made it impossible for him to act instantly on his first impulse, which was to grab her, yank her into his arms and kiss her right there on the front porch. So, he did the next best thing, which was to step inside at her invitation, set his packages carefully on the floor and then grab her, yank her into his arms and kiss her in the living room.

Sydney's head was spinning. One second she was answering the door and the next an incredibly handsome man dressed in a tuxedo and bearing a strong resemblance to her partner took her in his arms and proceeded to kiss her like his life depended on it. She hadn't even had a chance to close the front door.

"I remember, Syd. I remember. I remember…" he whispered over and over as he continued to kiss her between the words, finally stopping long enough to look into her tear-filled eyes and tell her, "I remember everything."

"When? Just now?" Sydney asked, ready to believe in the magic of a wish made on a velvet dress.

"No, it was this morning, when I saw our portrait at Mr. Rhyme's studio. It was just so real – it even smelled like you – and suddenly I remembered dancing with you at the party and singing to you. And then it all came flooding back." As he spoke, he moved away from her and closed the front door. Then he carried the food bags into the kitchen and set them on the breakfast bar.

"So, it worked after all," Sydney mused, not realizing she was thinking out loud as she followed him into the kitchen.

"What worked? Oh, you mean, the mysterious 'car trouble' designed to lure me down to the studio so I could see that amazing picture and be drenched in that incredible smell?"

"Yeah, that," she said, sheepishly, wrapping her arms around him and looking up at him. "I'm sorry for lying to you. Do you forgive me?"

By way of response, he hugged her close before he said, "Only if you forgive me for letting you think it didn't work so that I could play out this whole reenactment scenario. I'm sorry, Syd."

"You're forgiven."

"So are you," Gage replied, kissing her sweetly on the lips and then trailing kisses along her jaw line to the soft spot behind her ear. He took a deep breath, drinking in the scent that awoke a thousand memories, and then she was kissing him again, clinging to him like she was afraid if she let go he would disappear.

"Oh, Syd, I was so stupid about all this," Gage confessed, still holding her in his arms. "I should have known why you were so upset all the time, but it took until Juliet referred to you as my girlfriend at the courthouse this morning for me to finally begin to put it together."

"Gage, I'd say you had a few things on your mind besides what was bothering me, like the fact that six months of your life just vanished and your weapon was stolen…"

"None of which matters to me as much as you do, Syd. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Before I ever saw the portrait, before my memory came back, I realized that the memories aren't important. Good or bad, they're the past. It's the future that matters now, and even if I forgot my whole life up until this very moment, I would still know that my future is you. I love you, Sydney Cooke. I will love you forever."

Another long, passionate kiss followed his declaration, cementing the bond between his heart and hers.

When they moved apart, Sydney reached up, straightened his tie and used her thumb to wipe a dab of lipstick off his lower lip.

"I love you, too, you know. I think I have almost from the moment I met you, but I thought you would never feel that way about me, so I hid it, or at least I tried to. But ever since we got back from that movie set in Mexico, I had the feeling that something was different, that all that flirting was based on something…I don't know…something real."

She paused, gathering her thoughts and her courage. She had promised herself that if she ever got the chance she would tell him that Saturday night was no accident, at least not for her.

Gage knew she was working up to something, but he had no idea what. He just held her gaze and smiled encouragingly.

"And?" he prompted.

"And I decided that a formal black-tie party would be the perfect occasion to conduct an investigation into whether or not I was right. What I'm saying is, this little number was no accident," she volunteered, indicating the dress by doing a quick twirl, causing the garment's skirt to fan out and reveal her bare thighs.

"So you're saying you set out to seduce me?" Gage asked, unable to suppress an ear-to-ear grin.

"That's not exactly how I thought of it, but now that you mention it, yes, I did," Sydney admitted, biting her lower lip and looking down at her toenails.

Gage put a hand under her chin and directed her face toward his. Good Lord, how he loved this woman!

"Sydney, please do not tell me you were about to apologize to me for going to such lengths to finally get my attention," he scolded jokingly. "I'm the one who's sorry it took me so long to let you know that I love you…for real. And as a way of begging your forgiveness, I suggest we have an egg roll toast before our dinner goes from room temperature to stone cold."

The sudden shift in the subject caused Sydney to stare at him quizzically.

"Trust me?" Gage posed as he removed the egg rolls from the Golden Moon bags, hers in one small wax paper bag and his in another. He laid them on the plates Sydney had set out before Gage arrived.

"Should we nuke them first?" Sydney asked, heading for the microwave with her plate.

"NO!" he yelled, stopping her in her tracks.

"It…um… makes the wrappers really tough, don't you think?" he stammered, trying to justify his outburst.

"Whatever you say, babe," Sydney replied as she returned to stand beside him at the breakfast bar, adding, "What shall we toast to?"

"Well, since we both have admitted to wasting lots of time denying our feelings for each other, and since I was supposed to bring dinner last Saturday but didn't get here 'til now, how about 'better late than never'?" Well, OK, maybe one well-rehearsed speech. Or two.

"OK. Here's to 'better late than never'," Sydney answered and they 'clinked' their egg rolls together.

Gage held his breath as Sydney broke hers in half and watched a diamond ring fall out of it onto the counter top.

"Oh!" she squeaked, dropping the pieces of her egg roll onto her plate as the ring bounced a time or two before she slapped her right hand on it. Before she lifted her hand, she stared wide-eyed at Gage, and then slowly moved her hand just enough to peek beneath it before slapping it down again.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Well, that depends. What do you think it is?" Gage countered as he carefully laid his still intact egg roll on his plate.

"It looks like a diamond ring," she said shakily, as she picked up the ring and gave it a close inspection.

Ready to plow ahead with planned speech number two, Gage was halted by the frown on Sydney's face. Before he could ask what she so disapproved of, she grabbed a napkin from the stack she always kept on the bar and wiped the ring clean of egg roll residue, bringing it back to its original brilliance. When she smiled at her handiwork, Gage forged ahead.

Taking her left hand in his and looking into her deep, brown eyes, he recited, "Ah, but not just any diamond ring. This one comes with a promise that I will spend every day for the rest of my life finding new ways to show you how much I cherish you. I love you, Sydney, and you will make me the happiest man alive if you say you'll be my wife."

Without a word, Sydney presented the ring to Gage, who took it from her trembling fingers, a lump of fear beginning to form in his throat. Was it too late? Too soon? Why was she so quiet?

He saw the tears spill from her eyes and just as an icy panic began to sink into his soul, she finally whispered, "Yes, I will be your wife."

"Oh, Syd, you scared me!" he almost shouted as he pulled her to him and held her tight.

"I'm sorry, but there for a minute I couldn't breathe. I couldn't get the words out. Oh, Gage, yes, I want to be your wife more than anything in the whole world."

He took her left hand in his again and slid the ring on the appropriate finger. And with that, she kissed him ferociously.

Sensory overload struck again, but this time he was able to relish each element of the experience as it presented itself. Her lips assaulted his and he responded by tasting not just her lipstick, but _her_. His hands caressed the sleek back of the velvet dress and then moved slowly along the skin of her upper back, pausing briefly on her bare shoulders before weaving into her silken hair. Gently removing the comb, he ran his fingers through the soft black waves and then let them fall around her face. The smell of her shampoo brought a replay of his fantasy about her hair dancing across his naked skin and it was all he could do to not rip his shirt off on the spot.

Sydney was amazed, even a little frightened, by her body's response to his touch. Every inch of her begged for his attention, longed for the feel of his gentle hands, his strong arms, his hungry mouth. She pressed herself against him, crushing her breasts against his powerful chest and discovering, a little farther south, the unmistakable evidence that his desire matched her own.

Realizing that the moment of truth was upon them, they both eased the intensity of their embrace until at last they looked into each other's eyes.

"Gage, there's something you should know…" Sydney began, but stopped, unsure of how to share something so private, even with the man she loved.

"Syd, what is it?" he asked, his voice soft, his eyes searching hers for some clue as to what she was so reluctant to reveal. A moment ago, she'd been as aggressive as a lioness on the prowl, but now she was as timid as a mouse.

"It isn't that I don't want you, because I do. I want you so much it hurts. It's just that…I…I'm…" she fumbled, unable to meet his eyes, silently kicking herself for even starting this conversation. What did it really matter anyway?

Gage rewound the previous three minutes in his head and after going over it once more, the reason for her behavior hit him like a freight train.

"Syd, look at me, please?" he begged. She looked up at him, so fragile, so…innocent.

"Sydney, I won't deny that if you had said the word just now, I would have scooped you up in my arms and carried you straight to bed, but I want you to know that nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever happen between us that you don't want to happen," he pledged as he gathered her gently in his arms and held her to him.

"It isn't that I don't want it to happen, it's just that it hasn't yet…ever…to me," she whispered against his chest.

So it was what he thought. Would she ever cease to amaze him?

"Oh, Syd, I don't deserve you," he said, smiling in spite of himself. "You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but my first question is, why not?"

She looked him straight in the eye and stated, without hesitation, "It's a gift I can only give once and, until now, no one has been worthy of it."

If she'd sneezed just then, she'd have knocked him over backwards.

"And by 'until now', you mean me? You think I am worthy of it…uh…of you?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have agreed to marry you if I didn't."

He was simply overwhelmed. Taking her face in his hands, he kissed her ever so gently on the lips. He waited for her to open her eyes before he spoke.

"I am honored, Syd, so deeply honored, that you would deem me worthy of the most wonderful and precious gift that I have ever received or will ever receive as long as I live. Would it be all right with you if I waited until our wedding night to accept it?"

"Yes, I think that would be perfect," she answered, adding, "as long as you're not planning on a long engagement."

"What are you doing this weekend?" he asked, without so much as a grin.

Sydney laughed at first, but then realized he wasn't laughing with her.

"Uh, are you serious?"

"Deadly."

Her eyes flew open and her mouth worked, but no sound came out.

"Hey, you were the one who just said you didn't want a long engagement," he reminded her.

"Yes, I know. But I don't consider three days 'long', do you?"

"Maybe you're right. What about the weekend after that?" he offered, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her again, just because he felt like it.

"How do you feel about New Year's Eve?" she asked, trying to stay focused on the task at hand.

"Not as good as I feel about next weekend, but…"

"OK, let's split the difference. It's almost Thanksgiving. What about the first Saturday in December?"

"Done," Gage declared, feeling like an auctioneer who just completed a hotly contested sale.

"Good. Now that that's settled, I'm starving. Is it safe to put the rest of the food in the microwave?" Sydney asked, half-afraid he might have stashed more jewelry in the moo shoo pork.

Gage laughed out loud. "And you think I'm the one who's always hungry."

"Well, there's hungry and then there's hungry," she purred, sliding her arms around his neck and kissing him senseless. Dinner, it turned out, could wait.

End Chapter 15.


	16. Chapter 16

Better Late Than Never: Epilogue: Morning, first Sunday in December.

Mr. and Mrs. Francis Gage awoke to a tropical symphony of gentle waves rolling onto white sand, occasionally accented by the screeching of the seagulls that swooped and reeled above the skylights of their luxury bungalow on the tiny Caribbean paradise of St. Tomas.

Sydney was snuggled against her husband in the bungalow's bed, her head pillowed on his chest, one leg flung across both of his. Gage lay on his back, his arms encircling his new bride in a gesture both tender and protective. Both of them were as naked as the day they were born.

"Good morning, Mrs. Gage." His rumbling baritone seemed to rise directly from his chest to her ear without ever having to pass through his mouth.

"Do that again," Sydney requested, smiling up at him and then immediately laying her ear against his pecs again.

"Good morning, Mrs. Gage," he repeated, only this time he deliberately lowered his voice an octave or two, causing a childlike giggle to erupt from Sydney's throat. He couldn't help laughing himself, which sounded to Sydney like an avalanche tumbling through his chest.

"I realize you are thoroughly enjoying your new toy, Syd, but I am eventually going to have to at least change positions, if not get out of bed altogether. I mean, nature is calling even as we speak," Gage said.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized, sitting up to allow him to leave the bed and pad down the tiny hallway to the bathroom.

As she watched him walk away in all his masculine glory, it occurred to her that even though last night was the first time they had ever seen each other naked, she hadn't once felt embarrassed or shy around him and he appeared to be completely at ease with her as well. Ah, the magic that can be wrought by a simple gold band, she thought to herself as she watched her rose gold engagement ring and matching wedding band glitter in the morning sunlight.

When Gage came back into the bedroom, he threw open the French doors that led to the private deck along the ocean side of the bungalow and stepped out onto the wooden surface and into the shade of the two enormous palm trees that grew on either side of the bungalow. Privacy was afforded primarily through distance; theirs was the only house for at least two miles in any direction, but there were also several gates that blocked access to the beach from the only road between the nearest village and the ocean.

He closed his eyes and let the salty breeze dance over him. It reminded him of the way Sydney's hair felt last night as it caressed his bare body, sweeping a tantalizing trail across his chest one minute, falling in a silky curtain around his shoulders the next. It wasn't the only fantasy that had come to life in their marriage bed, but it counted as one of his favorites.

Still enjoying his memories of their first night as man and wife, Gage felt the familiar tingle crawl up the back of his neck and knew that Sydney was trying to sneak up on him in her bare feet. Just as she was about to cup her hands on his backside, he spun around and grabbed her arms with both hands.

"Gotcha!" he yelled and began tickling her unmercifully as her uncontrollable laughter floated out to sea on the wind.

"Stop! Stop! Not fair!" she shrieked, sorry now that she had revealed her ticklish spot to him in a moment of utter weakness last night. At last, he relented and gathered her into his arms, delighting in the feel of her breasts brushing rhythmically against his chest as she struggled to control her breathing. They wouldn't be out on the deck much longer; he was sure of it.

Calmer now, Sydney stood silently next to him, her arms around his waist, looking out to sea. In the distance, a sailboat skimmed the horizon and she wondered about the sailors: Who were they? Where were they going? Where had they been? Did they have binoculars?

She laced her fingers with his and tugged him back toward their king-size bed, which was covered with the softest, whitest sheets she'd ever slept on and a cozy comforter in the same blinding color. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she kissed his fingers and then his palm, the inside of his wrist and on and on until he was kneeling before her as she nuzzled the soft spot just below his Adam's apple.

Gage had no idea where she had learned the art of seduction, but at the moment he didn't care if she'd taken lessons from the Mayflower Madam herself. He was in his own private heaven and she was the head angel in charge.

She continued her exquisite ministrations, kissing her way up his throat, across his chin and then veering left to tease his earlobe with her tongue.

"Oh, Syd, what you do to me," he whispered as an involuntary shiver sent a hot tingle rippling through him. He reached for her, but she deflected his hands and instructed him to keep them to himself unless she told him otherwise.

"Close your eyes," Sydney directed after she had him lie down on the bed. "Last night was almost exclusively about me and my pleasure -- and I thank you for that-- but this morning, it's all about what I can do for you." As she spoke, she was drawing random patterns across his chest and his washboard abs with a feather light touch that she couldn't help noticing was having the very effect she hoped it would.

He opened his eyes and looked into the face of the most loving, kind, honest, generous woman he would ever have the honor to know.

"First of all, last night was very definitely my pleasure in more ways than one – actually, I think it was three at last count – and I thank you for that. As for this morning, my lady fair, I am all yours; do with me what you will." And with that, he closed his eyes again and surrendered himself to her completely.

-----

The rest of their honeymoon was spent in almost identical fashion. As Gage put it, they had the rest of their lives to wear clothes and spend time with other people. This week, his preference was for them spend every day with nothing on but the radio.

The singular exception was when they took time to eat, for they had to occasionally leave the bungalow and drive to the local farmers market to buy food to cook for themselves, or sometimes they would ride rented bicycles to one of the beach-side restaurants nearby. Throughout the week, Sydney noticed, Gage had spent a lot less time thinking about food than he usually did.

When it was time to leave, they packed what few clothes they had brought and took one last walk on the beach.

"When we get home, the first thank-you card I'm writing is to Mark Cuban for letting us stay in his private paradise," Sydney announced as they walked hand in hand and let the warm ocean lap at their ankles.

"Absolutely," Gage agreed. "This was probably the best wedding present anybody ever got, not just us."

"Oh, I don't know. Our portrait from Mr. Rhyme is pretty spectacular, too, and we get to look at that every day."

"Yeah, you're right. I wonder where he hung it?" Gage inquired, referring to the offer that the photographer had made to hang the portrait for them in Sydney's house while they were away.

A few days before the wedding, Gage had moved all of his things out of his bachelor pad and into Sydney's two bedroom house and then stayed at Walker's ranch until the ceremony, which was held in the Walkers' enormous backyard. Walker and Alex had offered to host the event when Gage and Sydney were having trouble finding a church on only a few weeks' notice.

With help from Alex and Erica – and a few hints and well-placed phone calls from Mr. Rhyme to his wealth of contacts in the wedding industry – Sydney and Gage were able to complete a year's worth of tasks in very short order, making the wedding and the western-style barbeque reception a raging success. Naturally, Mr. Rhyme took all the pictures.

The portrait became known affectionately as "First Kiss," mostly because Mr. Rhyme insisted that all great works of art have names. It was displayed proudly in the front window of Rhyme's studio until the day of the wedding, when it was placed on an easel next to the cake table where it drew 'oohs' and 'aahs' and the occasional, 'Why don't you kiss me like that anymore?' all day long.

"I wonder, too," Sydney said as they reluctantly turned back and headed for the bungalow. "I told him to do whatever he thought was best, so I know he'll find a way to do it justice."

-----

"Yes, I am." Gage insisted.

"No, you're not," Sydney argued.

"Yes, I am, Mrs. Gage, and that's the end of it," Gage countered.

"What is the big deal? Why is it so important for you to carry me across the threshold?" Sydney demanded as she opened the front door of her house that was now their home. Their voices were firm, but they were both smiling.

"Because it's tradition and because…" Gage hesitated, running his hand through his hair, his signature gesture of discomfort.

"Because why?"

"Because I forgot when we first got to St. Tomas, that's why," Gage confessed. "I was so excited about making love with you that I just forgot all about it."

Sydney smiled like she did every time she was reminded of their wedding night. She couldn't very well deny him after an admission like that. After all, like he said, it was tradition.

"Well, OK, if it's that important to you, go ahead," she acquiesced, sliding her arms around his neck as he scooped her off her feet and carried her through the front door, which he kicked shut. Still holding her, he trekked through the living room, down the hall and into their bedroom.

"Hey, partner, we've crossed more than one threshold. Enough with the tradition alrea…" Sydney's protest was silenced by a deliberate kiss from her husband, as he laid her on the bed and gently situated himself on top of her.

"Was this part of the plan all along?" she quizzed him.

"Nope, just thought of it on my way in. Do you have a problem with that?" he asked as he continued to place tiny kisses on her eyelids, her nose, her throat. He heard her breath catch and felt her arch her back, pressing herself into him, as he grazed his teeth ever so lightly over the base of her neck and then kissed the soft spot at the center of her collar bone.

"Uh…no. I mean, yes…wait, what was the question again?" she whispered, her mind unable to comprehend anything but the delicious sensations emanating from her very center all the way to the tips of her eyelashes. She shoved him off of her only long enough to shed her sweater and then quickly pulled him back over her like a living blanket.

He released the clasp on her bra with one hand, then with the other slid it off her shoulders and tossed it aside.

"Too many clothes," he mumbled, kissing her again while they worked at removing the rest of each other's garments, until at last there was nothing between them but sweat.

"Welcome home, Gage," his wife said softly, referring to a lot more than the house. "Welcome home."

-----

In their ardent haste, the couple had not noticed the pair of portraits hanging on the wall behind them, opposite the bed. On the left, "First Kiss", complete with an ornate wooden frame and a brass nameplate bearing its title. On the right, of equal size and with a matching frame, was a portrait of Gage and Sydney dressed in all their wedding finery, arms around each other, eyes closed, kissing. The brass nameplate read "Forever Bliss."

The End.


End file.
